Evaluation of the Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 antigen assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal swabs.

•Antigen assays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 are relatively inexpensive and take less time than RT-PCR.The automated Elecsys® SARS-CoV-2 antigen was evaluated compared to the gold standard RT-PCR•Overall sensitivity of the automated Ag test was 65,85% but could be increased to 100% for Ct values < 25, overall specificity was 100%.•The automated Elecsys antigen assay performance should be improved prior to be used in a SARS-Cov-2 screening strategy.