Over 90% of clinical swabs used for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics contain sufficient nucleic acid concentrations.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), reliable diagnostics are absolutely indispensable. Molecular SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics based on nucleic acids (NA) derived from oro- or nasopharyngeal swabs constitute the current gold standard. Given the importance of test results, it is crucial to assess the quality of the underlying swab samples and NA extraction procedures.