Preparedness of European diagnostic microbiology labs for detection of SARS-CoV-2, March 2020

Background: To track the European spread of SARS-CoV-2, decentralized testing became necessary and test capacity needed to be expanded outside reference laboratories rapidly. Methods: We assessed via an online questionnaire the preparedness of European hospital laboratories for detection of SARS-CoV-2 and listed the main drawbacks for implementation. Results: Forty-five percent of the surveyed labs had a test in place by March 26th which is well into the first wave of the pandemic in most countries. Conclusions: The main implementation barriers for introduction of a SARSCoV-2 molecular assay in European diagnostic laboratories were availability of positive controls and a specificity panel.