Routine test

Elevated levels of C-reactive protein and D-dimer, neutrophil count, NLR ratio, and a lower lymphocyte count

­ Monitor and predict the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 (Zeng et al., 2020) .

­ Low specificity because they are also abnormal in other illnesses.

Combined test

­ Useful for certain negative screening tests for people with elevated clinical suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

­ Improvement in management of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak significantly increase patient compliance for quarantine and treatments.

­ High cost (Wang, Kang, Liu, & Tong, 2020) .

Culture

­ Effective and often complementary.

­ Increased risk to laboratory staff.

­ Time-consuming.

­ Labor-intensive.

­ Often lack sensitivity or specificity (Cho et al., 2014) .