The early symptoms of the new coronavirus and the common cold are very similar, but there are still differences between the two. Patients with the common cold mainly suffer from nasal congestion, runny nose and sneezing, some with sore throat, fever and cough, and can recover on their own in about a week. Patients with novel coronavirus infection mainly have fever, dry cough, peripheral weakness, and a few patients have symptoms of nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat and myalgia and diarrhea. Severely ill patients tend to develop respiratory distress and hypoxemia a week after onset, and severe patients can progress rapidly to acute respiratory distress syndrome, septicemic shock or even more serious complications. Some children and neonates have atypical medical history, showing gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting, or only mental atrophy and shortness of breath, and light patients do not show pneumonia, and identification by symptoms alone is often insufficient evidence. The diagnosis can be confirmed by a positive test result, and the diagnosis of novel coronavirus infection can also be made if the serum is positive for novel coronavirus-specific IgM antibodies and IgG antibodies.