The Shanghai researchers ultimately determined that three components are needed to diagnose a coronavirus patient: fever and/or cough, ground-glass patches in both lungs, and a history of exposure to individuals from Wuhan.

But the coronavirus doesn't always show up in scans right away.

"We can't rely on CT alone to fully exclude presence of the virus," Michael Chung, the lead author of the Lanzhou study, said on February 3.

Lakhani said CT scans are "one of four or five things" needed to make a diagnosis, along with symptoms, clinical history, the progression of the disease, and the laboratory test.

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