Severe COVID-19 can be fatal. About 6-8% of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 will develop into critical illness and require intubation ventilation or ICU monitoring. The mortality rate of these critical patients can be as high as 65%. Identifying patients with the hazard of becoming critically ill early in the disease period and strengthening monitoring in time contribute to improving the patient's prognosis and also have important significance for the allocation of medical resources.

The team of academician Zhong Nanshan, on behalf of the high-level expert group of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, integrated clinical hazard factors and established a critical prediction model for COVID-19 with an accuracy of 88%. The model has been used in Leishenshan Hospital and many other hospitals in Hubei province. It has been widely recognized by local counterparts. The related paper was officially published in JAMA Internal Medicine (IF 20.8) recently. The corresponding authors are Academician Zhong Nanshan and professor He Jianxing.