Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on March 11, 2020 and alerted all governments to prepare emergency plans for COVID-19. After this important notice, almost all health societies published their recommendations to guide patients and clinicians in how to behave during the pandemic. On March 17, 2020 the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) recommended that the all assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments and non-urgent diagnostic procedures should be postponed except for some cases which are currently “in-cycle” or who require urgent stimulation and cryopreservation, because of the unknown effect of COVID-19 on fertility, pregnancy, and fetus [1]. The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) suggested similar recommendations to the ASRM on March 19, 2020 [2]. In Turkey, the first case was detected and declared on the March 10, 2020. Due to these societies’ recommendations and being a part of the pandemic, many fertility centers in Turkey did not start any type of new ART treatment.
The updated version of the recommendations for ART has been published since March 2020. The latest version of ESHRE’s guidelines recommended to restart ART under some rules and conditions [2]. Although the advice to return to normal daily practice has been offered [3], the risk of infection during the delivery of reproductive care; the possibility of COVID-19 contamination, and the effect of COVID-19 on the fetus and neonate are still unclear.
Many predisposing factors have been described for COVID-19. According to knowledge, there are no reports about whether or not ART is a predisposing or prognostic factor for COVID-19. In this report, we investigate the association between ART and COVID-19.