It is not possible to diagnose novel coronavirus pneumonia with a blood test. The main test for novel coronavirus is the detection of viral nucleic acid in respiratory secretions, such as sputum, nasal mucus or pharyngeal mucus. If evidence of nucleic acid is found, the diagnosis is confirmed. The novel coronavirus cannot be detected by blood tests. The diagnosis of novel coronavirus pneumonia is based not only on the nucleic acids in the patient’s respiratory secretions, but also on the characteristics of the patient’s chest CT images. The diagnosis of coronavirus pneumonia is based on the combination of imaging, clinical symptoms, and virologic testing, which is essential to confirm the diagnosis of coronavirus pneumonia, and not solely on blood tests. Inflammatory markers in the blood include routine blood tests, C-reactive protein, and procalcitoninogen, etc. The results of the blood tests only provide the level of inflammatory response of the patient. Source: Dr. Yurai