Pulmonary ultrasound in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 pneumonia in South Africa. An observational study.

<b>What the study adds.</b> During the COVID-19 pandemic, in a resource-limited, high-prevalence setting, lung ultrasound (LUS) patterns on admission to hospital were used to distinguish between COVID-19 and other causes in patients with hypoxaemic pneumonia. Patients with right upper zone consolidation were more likely to have non-COVID-19 community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) than COVID-19 pneumonia.<b>Implications of the findings.</b> The admission LUS score was unable to discriminate between COVID-19 pneumonia and non-COVID CAP, and did not correlate with the ratio of partial pressure of oxygen to fractional inspired oxygen, clinical severity or mortality. The pattern was more valuable than the total LUS score in understanding the disease process.