Nasopharyngeal swab or sputum samples of patients were available for testing by specific RT-PCR assays for 2019-nCoV to detect the highly conserved RdRp and variable S gene. The cycle threshold values of the sputum samples were 8–13 cycles earlier than those of throat swabs, indicating higher viral loads detected in the lower respiratory tract. It is consistent with the observations in patients with MERS who had higher viral loads in lower respiratory tract samples than in upper respiratory tract samples [22].