U07.1 assigned to COVID-19. If you are treating patients for COVID-19, there’s a new diagnosis code to use as of April 1: U07.1 (2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it moved up the effective date of the new diagnosis code from Oct.1. “This off-cycle update is unprecedented and is an exception to the code set updating process established under HIPAA,” stresses the CDC in a release.