PURPOSE In India, COVID-19 infected more than 10 million and caused more than 148,000 fatalities during 2020. Due to "lockdown" eye banks were shuttered in March, 2020 and reopened for operations in the month of May, 2020. This study assesses the immediate impact of the pandemic on eye banking and cornea transplantation in India. METHODS Data was gathered through an online survey of the eye banks and cornea surgeons in India. The questionnaire collected information on the vital statistics of eye bank operations and cornea transplants for the period from March to June for the years 2019 and 2020. RESULTS 47 eye banks responded to the survey. Collectively in the March-May 2020 period, corneas collected and transplanted declined by 78.27% and 79.14%, respectively, compared to the same period of 2019. In June 2020, the first full month after operations restarted, the collection and transplants were respectively, 82.10% and 81.82%, lower than June, 2019. Long-term glycerine preservation of corneas in the period from March to June 2020 increased by 124.5% compared to same period in 2019, but overall only 5.26% of the corneas recovered were preserved in this way. 44.44% of the eye banks collected corneas only from donors with negative COVID-19 diagnosis. 36.11% of the respondents rejected all suspicious cases, such as donors with respiratory pathologies, and 2.78% of the respondents accepted donations from medico legal cases only. 19.44% of the responding eye banks did SARS-CoV-2 nasal swab test for the deceased donor. 79.5% of the eye banks reported that staff were willing to work during the pandemic, and 82.05% eye banks gave special training to staff before restarting services. CONCLUSION Due to the steep decline in collections and transplants, 2020 can be termed as a lost year in Indian eye banking. Attention to Hospital Cornea Recovery Programs, continuous situation monitoring, and ongoing staff training programs are recommended.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 对印度眼库的直接影响。

目的 在印度，COVID-19 在 2020 年感染了超过 1000 万人，造成超过 148,000 人死亡。由于“封锁”，眼库于 2020 年 3 月关闭，并于 2020 年 5 月重新开放运营。本研究评估了大流行对印度眼库和角膜移植的直接影响。方法 数据是通过对印度眼库和角膜外科医生的在线调查收集的。该问卷收集了2019年和2020年3月至6月期间眼库手术和角膜移植的生命统计信息。结果47个眼库对调查作出回应。2020 年 3 月至 5 月期间，采集和移植的角膜与 2019 年同期相比分别下降了 78.27% 和 79.14%。2020 年 6 月，复工首个整月，采集和移植分别为 82.10% 和 81.82%，低于 2019 年 6 月。2020 年 3 月至 6 月期间角膜的长期甘油保存量同比增加 124.5%在 2019 年，但总体上只有 5.26% 的回收角膜以这种方式保存下来。44.44% 的眼库仅从 COVID-19 诊断为阴性的捐赠者那里收集角膜。36.11%的被调查者拒绝了所有可疑病例，例如有呼吸道疾病的捐赠者，2.78%的被调查者只接受了来自医疗法律案件的捐赠。19.44% 的响应眼库对已故捐献者进行了 SARS-CoV-2 鼻拭子检测。79.5% 的眼库报告员工愿意在大流行期间工作，82% 的人表示愿意工作。05% 眼库在重启服务前对员工进行了特殊培训。结论由于收集和移植的急剧下降，2020 年可以被称为印度眼库的失败之年。建议注意医院角膜恢复计划、持续情况监测和持续的员工培训计划。