A woman with acute abdominal pain was admitted to hospital with suspected cholecystitis. In addition to abdominal pain, she had vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhoea and symptoms of pyrexia. She had no symptoms from the respiratory tract, but was later found to have COVID-19. A number of patients have presented with similar symptoms at our hospital. This has led to temporary changes in our procedures for handling and investigating patients with acute abdominal pain.