Microcirculatory changes and thrombotic complications in COVID-19

Over the centuries, pandemics have annihilated human civilisation. During the last two millennia, the world has seen three pandemics of plagues, seven of cholera, several influenza pandemics and at least three epidemics and pandemics due to coronaviruses, with associated losses of millions of lives (Walsh, 2020). There has never been such interest, media coverage, availability of wealth of scientific data, advancement of knowledge and urgency in containing the pandemic as seen with COVID-19. At the time of writing, over 180 million people have contracted COVID-19 infection, and more than 4 million people have died of COVID-19 infection worldwide. Several million people are now experiencing ‘long COVID’-a persistence of symptoms from the acute phase of illness. Further, there are a large number of patients recovering from the complications of COVID infection following prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). Although the virus has not yet been contained, scientific advancements have certainly enabled a reduction in mortality.