Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by infection with the novel coronavirus ( SARS-CoV- 2), was rEPORted in 2019. Subsequently, the outbreak spread rapidly in many countries and regions. COVID-19 is highly contagious and lethal, and detecting the novel coronavirus is essential to effectively control transmission during the pandemic. Research teams and institutions in China and abroad have developed various effective method and equipment to detect the new coronavirus, and in this article, we summarized the current main detection method and equipment while considering the principles, range of applications, and advantages and disadvantages.