A cough with sputum is not necessarily a novel coronavirus infection. Current epidemiological surveys show that most people with novel coronavirus infection have a dry cough without sputum. However, novel coronavirus infection has other symptoms, such as fever, cough, malaise, and also vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Since the symptoms of this disease are not specific, the symptoms cannot yet be used as a basis for confirming the diagnosis of novel viral infection. At present, the most important basis for confirming the diagnosis of novel coronavirus infection is pathogenetic examination.