CHAPTER 15: Diagnostic Strategies for Early and Point-of-Care Detection of COVID-19 in Clinical and Personalized Settings

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) now needs no introduction. The whole world is working on the various possibilities involving therapeutic agents to combat COVID-19. Based on the mechanism of pathogenesis of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19, a number of mediators have been proposed to date. However, considering those mediators for treatment does not provide satisfactory results and thus, to date, they have not been approved for treating COVID-19. Consequently, even obtaining a promising vaccinate cum treatment to combat this pandemic, detecting SARS-CoV-2 along with identifying the infected patients will remain the utmost priority. Since its symptoms are similar to those of other respiratory infections, differential diagnosis becomes very important. Differential diagnosis distinguishes a specific disease or disorder from others that trail analogous medical symptoms. This chapter provides a detailed study regarding the differential diagnostic techniques for COVID-19 with updated knowledge and illustrations.