Upheaval in cancer care during the COVID-19 outbreak.

On Monday, 23 March 2020, Nigeria recorded its first mortality from the novel global COVID-19 outbreak. Before this, the country reported 36 confirmed cases (at the time of writing) and has discharged home two cases after weeks of care at a government-approved isolation centre in Lagos State. This first mortality was that of a 67-year-old man with a history of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. He was undergoing chemotherapy and had just returned to Nigeria following medical treatment in the United Kingdom. The novel COVID-19 pandemic has grounded several global activities including the provision of health care services to people with chronic conditions such as cancer. Evidence from China suggests that cancer patients with COVID-19 infection are a vulnerable group, with a higher risk of severe illness resulting in intensive care unit admissions or death, particularly if they received chemotherapy or surgery. This letter is an attempt to suggest practicable interventions such as the use of existing digital health platforms to limit patients' and oncology professionals' physical interactions as a way of reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection transmission amongst cancer patients and oncologists, as well as outlining effective strategies to ensure that cancer care is not completely disrupted during the outbreak.

Ecancermedicalscience. 2020 Apr 01*** epublish ***

Omolola Salako, Kehinde Okunade, Matthew Allsop, Muhammedu Habeebu, Mariam Toye, Glory Oluyede, Gabriel Fagbenro, Babatunde Salako

Department of Radiation Biology, Radiotherapy and Radiodiagnosis, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria., Oncological and Pathological studies Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria., Academic Unit of Palliative Care, University of Leeds, UK., Health and Literacy Unit, Oumissa Inspire, Nigeria., Department of Radiotherapy, NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre, Nigeria., X-Research Hub, Department of Radiotherapy, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria.