Coronavirus - SARS-CoV-2 & COVID-19

BACKGROUND

A novel coronavirus (later named SARS-CoV-2, with the resulting illness named COVID-19) emerged in late 2019, with WHO declaring a global health emergency on 30 January 2020. The epidemic has since spread to all populated continents, with a global pandemic declared on 11 March 2020.

Public health measures against the COVID-19 pandemic have varied widely in strategy and success around the world.  Travel restrictions in particular are presenting major challenges in logistics and transport for donated haemopoietic progenitor cells.  Meanwhile there remains no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is transmissible via blood or HPCs from a healthy donor lacking symptoms of COVID-19.

• COVID-19 INFECTION AND RISK EXPOSURE
• COVID-19 VACCINATION

REFERENCES

WHO: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

ECDC: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/risk-assessment-outbreak-acute-respiratory-syndrome-associated-novel-1

EBMT: https://www.ebmt.org/covid-19-and-bmt

COVID-19 is presenting major logistical challenges in managing and assessing HPC donors and in collecting and transporting HPC products.  WMDA has developed a publicly-available resource page at https://share.wmda.info/x/Yj6OF.