A 59-year-old man presented to our hospital with a 10-day history of fever, progressive dyspnoea, and a confirmed diagnosis of bilateral COVID-19 interstitial pneumonia. His past medical history was unremarkable, except for mild hypertension. On day 5 after admission, he complained of worsening acute abdominal pain with nausea associated with grade 3 arterial hypertension (160/115 mmHg). Blood tests showed a 30-fold increase of D-dimer levels with leucocytosis and lymphopenia.