Abstract

The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic caused by the new coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. The increasing demand for commercial kits used for automated SARS-CoV-2 RNA extraction, a key stage before the RT-qPCR diagnosis, could cause stock-shortages hampering the rapid processing of samples. Although the recommendation is to use automated methods for nucleic acids extraction, alternative methods are necessary to replace commercial and these alternatives should be as secure for the laboratory operator as automated methods. This work describes a simple, inexpensive and operator-safe method to detect SARS-CoV- 2 by RT-qPCR without the need for commercial RNA extraction kits, inactivating samples by heating in presence of a stabilizer and concentrating it to obtain similar results by RT- qPCR for Orf1ab, N and S genes, in comparison with automated methods.