en Infectious Diseases Infectious Diseases Original Article Original Article <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="color:#0033ff;"><strong><em>Background</em></strong><em>:</em> </span>When the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak occurred, the infrastructure for definitive detection of the disease through real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was not yet available in many regions, and a large proportion of suspected patients were inevitably referred to radiology centers to provide a chest CT scan. This research was conducted to describe chest CT characteristics in patients who underwent chest CT during the first weeks of COVID-19 outbreak in Babol, Iran.<br> <span style="color:#0033ff;"><strong><em>Methods</em></strong><em>:</em></span> All non-hospitalized suspected COVID-19 patients referred to the state radiologic clinic to perform chest CT from March 8, 2020 to March 28, 2020 have been enrolled in this observational study. All CT scans were reviewed by a faculty member radiologist with approximately 20 years of experience.<br> <span style="color:#0033ff;"><strong><em>Results</em></strong><em>:</em></span> Totally, 2,207 (52.3%) men and 2016 (47.7%) women have been examined. Imaging characteristics in 2292 (54.3%) individuals illustrated a highly suggestive sign of COVID-19 infection while 1869 (44.3%) had a normal chest CT scan. 1813 cases (77.00%) had bilateral involvement and 541 cases (23.00%) were infected unilaterally; Also, 1727 (73.36%) patients had left-sided involvement. Lung field involvement in 2036 (86.49%) patients was less than 20%. Ground glass opacity had a sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, LR+ and LR- of 99%, 96%, 96%, 98%, 22 and 0.01, respectively, for categorization of a patient as a COVID-19 case. These values were 99%, 73%, 70%, 99%, 3.72% and 0.01%, respectively for consolidations.<br> <span style="color:#0033ff;"><strong><em>Conclusion</em></strong><em>:</em></span> Although, RT-PCR is still introduced as the gold standard method for definite diagnosis, diagnostic accuracy of chest CT in COVID-19 detection is considerable.</span></span> Tomography, Coronavirus, Diagnosis 187 192 http://caspjim.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1010-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Naser Ghaemian nghaemian41@yahoo.com 100319475328460035481 100319475328460035481 No Department of Radiology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Reza Ghadimi rezaghadimi@yahoo.com 100319475328460035482 100319475328460035482 No Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Soraia Khafri khafri@yahoo.com 100319475328460035483 100319475328460035483 No Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Simin Mouodi dr.mouodi@gmail.com 100319475328460035484 100319475328460035484 Yes Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran