Methods We retrospectively reviewed the initial chest CT data of 62 confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 patients (34 men, 28 women; age range 20–91 years old) who did not receive any antiviral treatment between January 21 and February 4, 2020, in Chongqing, China. Patients were assigned to the early-stage group (onset of symptoms within 4 days) or progressive-stage group (onset of symptoms within 4–7 days) for analysis. CT characteristics and the distribution, size, and CT score of pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities were assessed.