Global COVID-19 Diagnostics Market to Reach USD 9.94 Billion by Fourth Quarter of 2020

The global COVID-19 diagnostics industry was pegged at USD 73.19 million in the first quarter of 2020 and is projected to reach USD 9.94 billion by the fourth quarter of 2020, driven mainly by the rise in COVID-19 patients across the world, need for rapid diagnostics, and lack of specific vaccine or medicine. However, the lack of awareness among developing countries regarding precautions and dearth of diagnostic kits & medical professionals could hinder the market growth. On the contrary, the development of advanced diagnostic kits would open new opportunities for the market players in the future.

These are the latest findings of Allied Market Research (Portland, OR, USA), a full-service market research and business-consulting company.


Researchers have been focusing on developing a potential treatment for COVID-19 and have been conducting months of trials to find the cure, which has increased the demand for COVID-19 diagnostic tools. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, researchers have been working to develop more accurate and faster diagnostic kits. At present, the most widely used diagnostic test for the detection of COVID-19 is reverse transcriptase PCR or RT PCR. PCR is recognized as the gold standard for diagnosis of various infectious agents. The technique has an advantage as the primers required for performing such tests can be produced with relative speed. Moreover, multiplex RT-PCR that has the capability of performing multiple target sequences simultaneously are the most preferred diagnostic tests for COVID-19. In addition, leading manufacturers of diagnostic kits are significantly increasing their capacity to perform such tests by rolling out automated SARS-CoV-2 testing systems. However, a few companies are focusing on developing rapid immunoassay tests for COVID-19 diagnosis.

By product, the PCR kits segment held the lion's share of the global COVID-19 diagnostics industry in the first quarter of 2020, and is expected to maintain its dominance till the end of 2020 due to their high accuracy and specificity. On the basis of technology, the PCR segment accounted for 80% of the total share of the global COVID-19 diagnostics industry in 2020 and is expected to register a prominent growth rate in the near future, owing to its increased demand for diagnosis of coronavirus patients. In addition PCR is considered as a gold standard in terms of diagnosis of new virus infections. However, the immunoassay segment is anticipated to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period due to the increased demand for rapid immunoassay tests for disease diagnosis.

By end user, the diagnostic labs segment held the largest share of the global COVID-19 diagnostics industry in the first quarter of 2020, contributing to more than two-thirds of the global COVID-19 diagnostics market, due to increased usage of molecular assays for COVID-19 diagnosis as the procedure requires various chemicals and instruments that are more easily available in a diagnostic laboratory. Geographically, Europe held the lion's share of the global COVID-19 diagnostics market in the first quarter of 2020, contributing to nearly half of the total revenue. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to contribute the highest revenue to the global COVID-19 diagnostics industry by the fourth quarter of end of 2020, owing to higher patient population in the region.

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