Effect of storage temperatures simulating transport conditions of nasopharyngeal swabs on the results of a chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) to detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen

CLIA testing can be carried out for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 N-protein in NP-swab samples transported in cold chain even with 7 days transit time, particularly for Ct ​< ​30 samples which represents cases with higher transmissibility. As drop in positivity for VITROS assay was lower as compared to rRT-PCR on day 7 in cold chain-maintained samples, the assay can be useful to screen samples received from remote peripheral areas before performing rRT-PCR.