Our service evaluation suggests that systematic testing of COVID-19 positive patients with likely community-acquired disease on admission with an ‘extended’ laboratory panel (high-sensitivity troponin I, ferritin, lactate dehydrogenase, procalcitonin or quantitative D-dimer) provides limited additional prognostic information for 28-day mortality or intensive care admission, relative to conventional ‘core’ tests such as a full blood count, renal function and C reactive protein combined with simple demographics. This evidence concerns the gene CRP and COVID-19.