Inclusion and exclusion criteria
| PICO component23 | Inclusion criteria | Exclusion criteria |
| Population (P) | Infant, child, adolescents, young adult, adult and aged (according to MeSH terms)* of all sexes, of any ethnicity and symptomatic and/or suspect for COVID-19. | – |
| Intervention/exposure (I) | Testing for COVID-19. | Testing for other previous pandemics. |
| Comparison (C) | Individuals symptomatic for COVID-19 who have not been tested. | – |
| Outcome (O) | The primary outcomes include the sensitivity as well as the specificity of the tests. | – |
*In this systematic review, we will use definitions in accordance with the MeSH term indexing, such as ‘Infant’: a child between 1 and 23 months of age; ‘Child, Preschool’: a child between the ages of 2 and 5 years; ‘Child’: a person 6–12 years of age; ‘Adolescent’: a person 13–18 years of age; ‘Young Adult’: a person between 19 and 24 years of age; ‘Adult’: a person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are 19–64 years of age; ‘Aged’: a person 65–79 years of age; ‘Aged, 80 and over’: a person 80 years of age and older.
MeSH, Medical Subject Headings.