A simple scoring system for COVID-19 diagnosis

The spread of Covid-19 pandemic has been unprecedented considering the speed and severity with which it has affected most of the countries in the world. Viewing the magnitude and urgency required in handling the remedial measures, Dr. Allam proposes that we need a scoring system to help us classify the suspected patients in order to determine who would require a follow-up, home isolation, quarantine or further investigations.

A scoring system is essential because the teams involved in finding and treating patients have found much difficulty in collecting nasopharyngeal swab specimen from all suspected patients. Also, the costs are very high for RT-PCR and CT Scans, if the doctors go on testing entire populations.

The proposed scoring system, that can prove a viable diagnostic tool for suspected patients, takes into account the Epidemiological Evidence of Exposure, Clinical Symptoms and Signs, and Investigations (if available). This simple scoring system for Covid-19 can be calculated in mere minutes, based on the data for the patients.