In connection with the ongoing outbreak of a novel coronavirus in the province Hubei and surrounding areas in China, it was expected that Europe would also be confronted with the emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as infections in travellers in several Asian countries outside of China were confirmed shortly after the announcement of the outbreak in Wuhan [1-4]. Therefore, it was necessary to rapidly implement adequately quick and sensitive diagnostic assays for outbreak management of SARS-CoV-2 in public health laboratories.