Laboratory Diagnosis of COVID-19 Infection: Current Issues and Challenges: An Indian Perspective

COVID-19, a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become a public health emergency affecting more than 215 countries worldwide. It originated from Wuhan district of China and in a very short span of time, it has spread rapidly causing millions of deaths worldwide. India reported its first case on 30th January 2020 and since then the numbers have been increasing exponentially every day. As of 9th August 2020, India had recorded 21, 09,631 confirmed cases and 43,379 deaths. Because of the complex dynamics involved in its infection and immunity, proper diagnosis is imperative in order to unravel this ongoing mystery. It has clearly told us the importance of establishing and strengthening a strong network of molecular virology laboratories in the country enabling us to strengthen the diagnostic arm which is the first step in disease control. The addition of serological tests has helped in surveillance and also to estimate the overall burden of disease.