The recent outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused a significant global health crisis, and rapid detection of the virus in infected patients is essential for infection control. Real Time RT-PCR has been widely used as the gold standard for SARS-CoV-2 detection (Nagozir et al., 2023). RT-qPCR has been shown to be a high sensitive and specific tool to quantify SARS-CoV-2 and extensively validated and standardized, providing reliable and reproducible results across laboratories (Nagozir et al., 2023, El-Kafrawy et al., 2022, Aoki et al., 2021, Buck et al., 2021). However, there are some drawbacks such as the time-consuming process, the requirement for expensive equipment and expert personnel to perform the assays and interpret the results. This can make it inappropriate for use especially in low-income and remote areas (Londono-Avendano et al., 2022, Huang et al., 2022, Lamb et al., 2020). Moreover, the sample collection and processing steps involved in RT-qPCR, including RNA extraction are time-consuming and expensive (Londono-Avendano et al., 2022).

Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) has been demonstrated to be a rapid, simple, reliable, cost-effective, and sensitive method for identifying SARS-CoV-2, and it does not require complex equipment such as a thermal cycler machine or expert staff to analyze the results (Lu et al., 2020, Chow et al., 2020, Song et al., 2022). This isothermal amplification method amplifies target sequence at a constant temperature, approximately around 60–65 ⁰C, without the need for a complex thermal cycler machine (El-Kafrawy et al., 2022). RT-LAMP assays apply a set of primers that recognize multiple region of the viral genome, increasing their sensitivity and decreasing the effect of genetic variations (Yamazaki et al., 2013). Furthermore, RT-LAMP assays can be visually analyzed by observing color changes or turbidity, removing the need for special equipment and facilitating point-of-care testing (Yilmaz et al., 2023, Tomita et al., 2008).

Despite its advantages, RT-LAMP also has some limitations, such as complex primer design, high probability of non-specific amplification and false positive results, lack of standard protocols and commercial kits, which may affect the reproducibility and comparability of results across different laboratories (Abdullahi et al., 2015, Alhamid et al., 2023).

In this study, we developed and optimized a rapid detection method for SARS-CoV-2 based on the RT-LAMP utilizing a specific primer set targeting the ORF1a gene. We then examined its sensitivity and efficiency using a serially diluted viral RNA sample with a known concentration and compared it to a commercial molecular detection kit based on Real-Time PCR. Furthermore, we investigated the efficiency and sensitivity of the RT-LAMP to detect SARS-CoV-2 viral genome in direct nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples with various Ct values. This study highlights the potential of RT-LAMP as a point-of-care tool for detecting SARS-CoV-2, but further research is necessary to utilize it for direct swab samples.