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While moving at different speeds (sometimes even within the same country), the lifting of COVID-19 lockdowns is continuing its cautious progress across Europe. In terms of total deaths, the UK, Italy, Spain and France remain the hardest-hit countries. Below is a summary of the latest developments from selected countries. Netherlands In one of the more light-hearted moments of the lockdown, on May 15 the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) amended its guidance to...

The original statement was posted in the WFSA (World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists). You can read the original statement here In line with WFSA’s position as a non-State actor in official relations with WHO, the WFSA board have submitted the following statement under the 73rd World Health Assembly Provisional agenda item 3 Address by WHO Director-General devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic response. The essential role of anaesthesiologists in the COVID-19 response The World Fe...

Jacob Michael Lurie, Debbie Chi, Maryna Khromava Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA Email: jacob.lurie@icahn.mssm.edu On March 20th, final-year medical students across the United States learned where they matched for residency. At the same time, the drastic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic were being felt across all medical specialities, including anaesthesiology. As fourth-year medical students entering the field of anaesthesiology at a time of great uncertainty and...

Gabriel M. Gurman, MD Chief editor gurman@bgu.ac.il I worked as an anaesthesiologist for more than 55 years, in three continents and five countries. I witnessed a lot of tragedies, and I had the opportunity to be involved in the management of some very severe mass casualties. I thought that I had already seen everything, so I supposed that nothing could surprise me anymore. I saw each year how influenza viruses killed a large number of patients, each winter being accompanied by numerous deaths,...

Dr Alvaro Arcocha MD. Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge (Barcelona, Spain). aarcocha@bellvitgehospital.cat I am writing this while part of my mind is still designing possible plans for future situations we might face in the course of this pandemic. But please, firstly, let me introduce the hospital where I work and my role there. I am an anaesthesiologist who is in charge of the management of critical care units and theatre rooms in a third -level hospital serving a population of 1.8 million in...

From Dr Pedro Amorim Amorpedro29f@gmail.com Dear Colleagues, In countries all over the world, the COVID-19 epidemic has reached the stage when hospitals must receive and care for many patients in need of artificial ventilation, being treated in new spaces and requiring the care of anaesthesiologists. I decided to write you this letter because we need to face the fear that threatens to paralyse us, and in the process, raise the morale, motivate, encourage and foster confidence. I am 64 years old,...

The past two weeks of the coronavirus pandemic have been characterised by cautious optimism, as many countries in Europe begin to carefully wind back some of the most stringent restrictions. As Italy and Spain began to move into the next phase of their pandemic control, the UK moved to number one position in Europe for COVID-19 related deaths, passing the grim milestone of 30,000. Below is a summary of the latest developments in selected countries Germany Optimism continues to increase in Germa...

An anaesthesia team in Israel has become one of the first to use 3D printing and virtual reality to produce an exact model of the airway of a 7-year-old girl in order to prepare properly for an operation to remove part of her lung. This pioneering report is published in this month’s edition of the European Journal of Anaesthesiology (the journal of the European Society of Anaesthesiology [ESAIC]). The young girl required part of her right lung to be removed due to a case of Ewing’s Sarcoma (...

We are passing a very special period. The world is frightened, people die, social life is paralysed and it seems that life is taking a long, too long pause. And needless to say, all the scientific and professional gatherings have been postponed and nobody is able to foresee when we will be allowed to go back to our usual activities. Euroanaesthesia 2020 was planned for May-June and has been postponed by several months to the end of November. The ESAIC Newsletter used to air each year a special i...

There have been positive signs from most European countries that their peaks of Covid-19 cases and deaths may have passed. Despite this, many countries including the UK, Spain and France have extended their lockdown measures into May. Others, such as Denmark, Austria and the Czech Republic, have begun to ease their restrictions, while one outlying nation – Sweden – is yet to impose any kind of strict lockdown at all. Below is a summary of the main developments in selected countries. Sweden A...