On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization declared the Chinese outbreak of COVID-19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern [15, 16]. In early February 2020, the World Health Organization based the diagnostic criteria for COVID-19 on compatible clinical features (fever and lower respiratory tract infection) associated with epidemiological risk (history of travel to Hubei province, China or close contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients within days of symptom onset) [15]. These were the criteria that we used in our hospital during February and mid-March to screen for the disease.