Any of the mechanisms described above can lead to acute cardiac injury and rise in cardiac troponins in patients with COVID-19. The relative role of these different mechanisms has not been described but direct (i.e. non-coronary) myocardial injury due to viral myocarditis or the effect of systemic inflammation appear to be the most common mechanisms. These observations are supported by a previous autopsy study in patients who had died due to SARS during the Toronto SARS outbreak [11]. In this study, the viral ribonucleic acid was detected in 35% of the autopsied human heart samples, providing evidence for direct myocardial injury by the virus.