Victorian researchers have devised a mnemonic tool for doctors and other medical professionals to rate the likelihood a patient has COVID-19 before they are tested.

Researchers based out of Austin Health and the University of Melbourne published a paper in Plos One on Thursday which assessed a cohort of patients at a COVID-19 screening clinic in Melbourne in March and April.

Led by infectious diseases specialist Associate Professor Jason Trubiano, they used the patients’ reported respiratory symptoms and travel history to derive a model of variables predictive of a positive test, allotting scores to each variable. 

These were: COVID-19 patient exposure or international travel, myalgia, anosmia or ageusia, fever, sore throat, hypoxia and being aged above 65.