Purpose: to compare and assess the clinical features of COVID‐19 pneumonia with features in non‐COVID‐19 pneumonia patientsDesign: diagnostic case control, retrospective studyRecruitment: patients with similar duration between symptom onset to admission were selected as controlsSample size: n = 34 (n = 15)Inclusion criteria: admitted pneumonia cases with a history of travel to Hubei or exposure to a PCR SARS‐CoV‐2‐confirmed‐positive patientExclusion criteria: not specified