COVID-19 National DiagnOstic Research and Evaluation Platform (CONDOR)

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A key part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic is to accurately find out who is infected. Getting rapid answers when patients are first seen ensures that we can give the best care, reducing the chance of others catching the infection. In community settings, we can take steps to isolate infected people and trace their contacts. Companies are developing new tests both to detect SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing COVID-19) and to find out if someone is already immune to the virus. It is crucial that these tests do not miss infections, or whether people really are immune. We need ways torapidly assess whether these new tests are accurate enough to be used in the NHS. Todo this we need to know how tests work in different settings, including the community,hospitals and care homes, and we must use high quality methods to evaluate them.We will set up a national network of experts in evaluating diagnostic tests to assess theaccuracy of these new tests. We will prioritise tests that are likely to give the bestimprovements in patient care by working with government bodies. We will ask patients totake part if they have symptoms that could have been caused by COVID-19. We will takeblood samples and swabs from the nose/throat, and we will compare the results of newtests to the results of proven methods to diagnose COVID-19. This will allow us to find outwhich tests are best to use in the NHS.