Low risk of COVID-19 transmission in GI endoscopy

Abstract

As of 31 March 2020, Italy and especially its Northern regions became the epicentre of the novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV-2) outbreak, with more than 100 000 documented infections and a higher mortality rate than that reported in other countries. According to recent data issued by the Italian Health Authority, more than 10% of all infections in Italy have been reported among HCWs and some of them have died.1 However, there are very few scientific data on the real incidence and risk of infection both among different categories/specialties of HCWs, as well as for patients.