The impact of the SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak on the safety and availability of blood transfusions in Italy

Coronaviruses are enveloped single-stranded RNA viruses belonging to the family of Coronaviridae. While initial research focused on their ability to cause enzootic infections, infections which have emerged in the past two decades demonstrate their ability to cross the species barrier and infect humans [1,2]. The ensuing epidemics have included Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002 and the more recent Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012, and have resulted in severe disease burden, mortality and economic disruption [3]. A novel flu-like coronavirus, emerging towards the end of 2019 and subsequently named SARS-CoV-2, has been associated with an epidemic initially focused in Wuhan, China.