Since late December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19; previously
known as 2019-nCoV) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been surging rapidly around the world.
With more than 1,700,000 confirmed cases, the world faces an unprecedented
economic, social, and health impact. The early, rapid, sensitive,
and accurate diagnosis of viral infection provides rapid responses
for public health surveillance, prevention, and control of contagious
diffusion. More than 30% of the confirmed cases are asymptomatic,
and the high false-negative rate (FNR) of a single assay requires
the development of novel diagnostic techniques, combinative approaches,
sampling from different locations, and consecutive detection. The
recurrence of discharged patients indicates the need for long-term
monitoring and tracking. Diagnostic and therapeutic methods are evolving
with a deeper understanding of virus pathology and the potential for
relapse. In this Review, a comprehensive summary and comparison of
different SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic methods are provided for researchers
and clinicians to develop appropriate strategies for the timely and
effective detection of SARS-CoV-2. The survey of current biosensors
and diagnostic devices for viral nucleic acids, proteins, and particles
and chest tomography will provide insight into the development of
novel perspective techniques for the diagnosis of COVID-19.