A review on corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19): current progress, clinical features and bioanalytical diagnostic methods

A new epidemic of acute respiratory viral pneumonia was discovered in central China at the end of 2019. The disease was given the name coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the virus that caused this disease was known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). So far, diagnostic methods have been focused on (a) human antibody detection, (b) viral antigen detection and (c) viral gene detection, the latter using RT-PCR being the most accurate approach. In this paper, we present a summary of the COVID-19 pandemic, clinical features and epidemiology and pathogenesis. Also, we focus on the recent advances in bioanalytical diagnostic methods based on various techniques for SARS-CoV-2 sensing that have recently been published (2020–2021). Furthermore, we present the mechanisms, advantages and disadvantages of the most common biosensors for COVID-19 detection, which include optical, electrochemical and piezoelectric biosensors as well as wearable and smart nanobiosensors, immunosensors, aptasensors and genosensors. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00604-022-05167-y.