LAUSR

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus pneumonia emerged in Wuhan, Hubei, China, and spread rapidly over the world (1). On January 20, 2020, China included the disease as a Class B infectious disease under the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, with prevention and control measures for Class A (highest level) infectious diseases (2). On February 11, 2020, the virus which caused the epidemic was officially named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. On the same day, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 was named as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO) (3). In February 2020, the Chinese Society of Radiology issued “a recommendation for Radiological Diagnosis of COVID-19 Pneumonia (first edition)”, in which the radiological examination protocol, imaging findings, staging and evolutions were stated, the essential roles of radiology in the diagnosis (suspected and clinically confirmed cases), patient follow-up and discharge were highlighted (4). Due to its easy availability, chest CT is emerging with significant advantages in implementing “early detection, early reporting, early isolation, early diagnosis, and early treatment” measures of COVID-19 control (5). However, there is still a lack of unified understanding and standards on CT based COVID-19 probability classification nor an objective and quantifiable interpretation of the result. By adopting a series of aggressive prevention and control measures (6-8), the epidemic situation of COVID-19 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China, has been effectively curbed. However, the city epidemic control is now challenged with the overall work resumption and the ongoing immigration (imported) cases. Therefore, aiming to provide a guidance for disease prevention and treatment at various medical institutions, and to generate a standardized radiological diagnosis, this “chest CT based Viral Pneumonia Imaging Reporting and Data System (VP-RADS)” was initiated by radiology experts from the designated hospital for COVID-19 control in Ningbo, i.e., Hwa Mei Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Ningbo Society of Radiology.