Nasal Swab Sampling for SARS-CoV-2: a Convenient Alternative in Times of Nasopharyngeal Swab Shortage

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal swab is the reference sampling method to detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) (1). However, nasal specimens may have a slightly lower sensitivity than nasopharyngeal specimens (2, 3). We herein validated an alternative procedure to collect nasal secretions with a swab routinely used in medical bacteriology for which there is no risk of supply disruption in order to perform the molecular diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.