Isothermal amplification-assisted diagnostics for COVID-19

The scenery of molecular diagnostics for infectious diseases is rapidly evolving to respond to the COVID-19
epidemic. The sensitivity and specificity of diagnostics, along with speed and accuracy, are crucial requirements for effective analytical tools to address the disease spreading around the world. Emerging diagnostic
devices combine the latest trends in isothermal amplification methods for nucleic acids with state-of-the-art
biosensing systems, intending to bypass roadblocks encountered in the last 2 years of the pandemic.
Isothermal nucleic acid amplification is a simple procedure that quickly and efficiently accumulates nucleic acid
sequences at a constant temperature, without the need for sophisticated equipment. The integration of
isothermal amplification into portable biosensing devices confers high sensitivity and improves screening at the
point of need in low-resource settings. This review reports the latest trends reached in this field with the latest
examples of isothermal amplification-powered biosensors for detecting SARS-CoV-2, with different configurations, as well as their intrinsic advantages and disadvantages.