A Short Note on Group Testing in Coronavirus Pandemic

Abstract

Locking the city down with compulsory coronavirus tests is one of the approaches to control the spread of COVID-19. Rapid antigen tests can only be used as reference. A large number of complicated laboratory tests including polymerase chain reaction tests are still required. Group testing, which combines a number of individual samples into a single pool, is necessary, but the group size is difficult to decide. A simple mathematical approach proposed earlier is useful for group tests as pointed out in this short article.