SARS-CoV-2 Detection and Cytokine Profiling

All patients were collected upper respiratory tract throat swab or nasal swab specimens when they were newly admitted to our hospital, and immediately stored in the virus transport medium [10 (link)]. Sputum specimens were also collected when necessary. SARS-CoV-2 virus were detected using the TaqMan one step RT-PCR kits (Shanghai Huirui Biotechnology Co., Ltd, China and Shanghai BioGerm Medical Biotechnology Co., Ltd, China) following the supplier’s protocol. The plasma cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, and IL-10) were measured using the Human Th1/2 Cytokine Kit II (BD Biosciences, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) following the product protocol.