Challenges during covid- 19 pandemic on the management of tuberculosis (tb) in india

Background and aims: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide including in India and needs surveillance, clinical assessment, testing, contact tracing, confirmation of diagnosis with supervised or in-supervised treatment regimens for effective eradication. The novel coronavirus-19 (nCoV-19) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a new coronavirus that was only recently discovered in 2019. The virus causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We reviewed the challenges due to the COVID- 19 pandemic on the management of Tuberculosis and current strategies adopted to mitigate them. Methods: We carried out a comprehensive review of the literature using suitable keywords such as ‘COVID-19’, ‘Pandemics’, ‘Tuberculosis’ 'Challenges', and' management', on the search engines of PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and Research Gate in March 2021 during the current COVID-19 pandemic to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the management of Tuberculosis. Results: We found considerable challanges in Tuberculosis service provisions both in the primary care and hospital settings. Lockdown, social distancing, isolation strategies and public health guidelines to prevent viral transmission impacted the delivery of all aspects of Tuberculosis care. Conclusions: COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the delivery of various tuberculosis diagnostic, treatment, surveillance and prevention programmes. Lockdown and public health guidelines have resulted in tough challenges in the traditional management of tuberculosis and have required reconfiguration of methods to support patients including wide ruse of remote consultations.