The 14 genes include BST2, IFIT1, IFIT2, IFIT3, IFITM1, ISG15, MX1, MX2, OAS1, OAS2, OAS3, OASL, RSAD2, and STAT1, which may be leveraged for COVID-19 diagnosis with direct virus detection by RT-PCR. Here, MX2 is linked to COVID-19.