The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is an independent agency of the EU whose mission is to strengthen Europe's defences against infectious diseases. It closely monitors the Covid-19 pandemic, and published on 23 March a document to provide a risk assessment and management options for the safe and sustainable supply of substances of human origin (SoHO) in order to assist the(EU/EEA) Member States in responding to the threat posed by this virus. Precautionary measures to mitigate risks posed by COVID-19 are recommended.
Regarding mitigation of the risks posed by Covid-19 to the safety of SoHo, it is recommended that information should be given to SoHO donors about the Covid-19 such as transmission risks. Donor pre-selection should be conducted in the face of these new circumstances. For instance, donors with Covid-19 are not eligible, and individuals who had contact with previously confirmed patients must be deferred for 14 days. It was also noted that blood establishments which use pathogen reduction technology (PRT) may be able to decrease the theoretical risk of Covid-19 transmission through platelets and fresh frozen plasma.
Regarding mitigation of the risks posed by Covid-19 to an adequate and sustainable supply of SoHO, SoHO safety authorities and establishments are encouraged to update or develop and activate contingency (preparedness) plans and define actions that must be executed before, during and after the outbreak in order to maintain sustainability of supply.
In this document, the ECDC acknowledges that the COVID-19 pandemic may pose a risk to the safety as well as to the adequate and sustained supply of critical and essential SoHO to patients who rely on them. However, if precautionary measures are suggested to mitigate a theoretical risk (since the risk of viraemia has not been proven so far) of infection, on the other hand, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the SoHO adequate supply is likely to be significant for SoHO establishments and potentially affect the SoHO supply chain.
The document can be accessed here.