Number of organ transplants dip as COVID-19 grips world  

Between 2019 and 2020, the number of solid organ transplants fell dramatically in the world, researchers said. It highlights the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on health services and patients.  

Due to the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases around the world, several hospitals were forced to delay potentially life-saving organ transplant surgeries as the resources like intensive care beds were needed for coronavirus patients.

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There were also concerns about treating these transplant recipients in hospitals at that time.  

A report in July from NHS Blood and Transplant depicted in the year 2020-21 transplant activity was down to around 80% of normal levels.   

In the UK, there were only 3,391 transplants carried out in comparison with 4,761 in the previous 12 months. Overall, around 487 patients died while waiting for a transplant in comparison to 372 in 2019-20.  

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It also estimated that about 7,000 people were likely waiting for a transplant in the UK, a figure was last seen in 2012-13.  

“Temporal trends revealed a marked worldwide reduction in transplant activity during the first three months of the pandemic, with losses stabilising after June 2020, but decreasing again from October to December 2020,” the team said.