Clinical pathway
Important in the context of COVID‐19 is that the pathway is multifaceted because it is designed to care for the diseased individual and to protect the community from further spread. Decisions about patient and isolation pathways for COVID‐19 vary according to health services and settings, available resources, and stages of the epidemic. They will change over time, if and when effective treatments and vaccines are identified. The decision points between these pathways vary, but all include points at which knowledge of the accuracy of diagnostic information is needed to be able to inform rational decision making.

Prior test(s)
In this review on signs and symptoms, no prior tests are required because signs and symptoms are used in the initial diagnosis of suspected COVID‐19 disease. Patients can, however, self‐assess before presenting to healthcare services based on their symptoms. This is in contrast to contact tracing, in which patients or participants are tested based on a documented contact with a SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive person and may themselves be asymptomatic.

Role of index test(s)
Signs and symptoms are used as triage tests, that is, to rule out COVID‐19 disease, but also to identify patients with possible COVID‐19 who may require further testing, care escalation or isolation.

Alternative test(s)
Chest X‐ray, ultrasound, and computed tomography (CT) are widely used diagnostic imaging tests to diagnose COVID‐19 pneumonia. Availability and usage varies between settings. We address these radiological tests in a separate review.