Abstract: An artificial intelligence-based system and method for scalable screening of individuals for respiratory infection, such as COVID-19. The system is trained to distinguish distinct latent features of cough sounds produced by a COVID-19 infected person from cough sounds produced by patients suffering from any other respiratory infection or involuntary cough sounds produced by a healthy person. Cough sound samples from individuals can be remotely collected and evaluated by the system for likelihood of the COVID-19 infection. Additionally, images of affected body parts, biomarkers, metadata, and other respiratory sound samples can also be used for screening.