Gauging the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tuberculosis services: a global study.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on tuberculosis (TB) disease and TB services emerged in the beginning of 2020 [1, 2]. Epidemiological and clinical studies, including mortality rates of the first cohort of patients with COVID-19 and TB co-infection were described [3, 4]. Several reports from individual countries suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected TB services [5–9], including validation by modelling studies [10]. The Global Tuberculosis Network (GTN) reported that the COVID-19 pandemic affected TB services in 33 TB centres from 16 countries in the first four months of 2020 [11]. An increased use of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic was observed in some TB centres [11]. The major limitations of that study were the short period of observation (January-April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019) and the limited number of variables analysed [11–14]. Footnotes This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal . It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article. Conflict of interest: Dr. Migliori has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Thong has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Alffenaar has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Denholm has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Tadolini has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Al Yaquobi has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. BLANC has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Buonsenso has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Cho has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Codecasa has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Danila has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Duarte has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Garcia-Garcia has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Gualano has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Rendon has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Silva has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Souleymane has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. THAM has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Thomas has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. TIBERI has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. UDWADIA has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. GOLETTI has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Centis has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. D'Ambrosio has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Sotgiu has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. ONG reports grants from National Medical Research Council, personal fees from Institut Merieux, during the conduct of the study; other from Qiagen, outside the submitted work.