Advice from the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technologies for Infertility Patients Concerning COVID-19

The Wuhan region of China is the first identified place from where the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has started at the end of the last year. Gradually this dangerous viral infection spread all over the world and become a pandemic condition. The complete knowledge of this virus is still unknown and very little knowledge obtain about its effect on the reproductive system and pregnancy.   

covid and family plannig

The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SART) has provided advised intended parents who are seeking for family planning recently or who have already started their infertility treatment and successfully conceive should avoid nonessential traveling to the areas where potentially infected patients are identified or the area remarked as hotspots of coronavirus to limit the contact with the infection.  Both the intended parents must follow this advice to save themselves, their family and their future child.

In third party reproduction process, no involve individual including intended parents, as well as egg donor, sperm donor, traditional surrogate or gestational carrier, should not befall under coronavirus positive or suspected case in diagnostic criteria. They must avoid their pregnancy planning until the diagnostic test become negative and confirmed by re-testing.  But those patients already started their infertility treatment, SART advised them to freeze all donated gametes and created embryos till the prospective patient become disease-free.

The SART has also shown concern for intended parents who are using a gestational carrier to build their families, as intended parents may not be travel to the respective places at the time of the birth of their child. In such cases, experts advise all intended parents and the legal authorities, surrogacy agencies and official organizations, and Government of the respective countries to take prompt necessary action to take care of the newborn after his/her birth till the parent will reach the station, or contagious parents are not clinically declared as disease-free.  

 The SART members who are associated with gestational carriers or intended parents appealed to communicate with patient parties. Surrogacy organizations should facilitate the arrangement for easy communication between both intended parents and surrogates so that both parties do not demotivate from their responsibilities. These types of arrangement encourage the patient parties to obey the Government rules in this crisis movement and do not take any absurd decision for which they regret in the future. 

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