Common question
Can COVID-19 cause pneumonia?
Most people who get COVID-19 have mild or moderate symptoms like coughing, a fever, and shortness of breath. But some who catch the new coronavirus get severe pneumonia in both lungs. COVID-19 pneumonia is a serious illness that can be deadly.
Why COVID-19 pneumonia is more deadly?
While other types of pneumonia rapidly infect large regions of the lungs, COVID-19 begins in numerous small areas of the lungs. It then uses the lungs' own immune cells to spread across the lungs over many days or even weeks.