COVID-19 resources

A collection of resources for the general public and the cardiovascular community from our Members and other public health organizations. Updates will be made as new information becomes available.

For more information on the link between COVID-19 and CVD, please visit our blog: ‘The Heart in the Time of COVID-19’.

Read our new article: A new virus but a known target: stepping up the case of heart health. 

COVID-19 Basics

• What is the novel coronavirus?, World Health Organization (WHO).
• What are the symptoms?, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 
• How many cases are in my country?, Worldometers.
• How can I protect myself?, WHO.
• Are there effective treatments for COVID-19?, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
• Can people who recover from COVID-19 be infected again?, CDC.

WHF’s webinar on COVID-19 basics, including signs and symptoms, transmissibility and clinical management​, World Heart Federation (26 March). 

Clinical recommendations

General 

• Handbook of COVID-19 prevention and treatment, Global MediXchange for Combating COVID-19.
• AHA Guidance for CPR, Emergency CV Care Amid COVID-19, American Heart Association (23 March 2020)
• Coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19): a guide for UK GPs, British Medical Journal.
• Are pregnant healthcare personnel at increased risk for adverse outcomes if they care for patients with COVID-19?, CDC.

COVID-19 and CVD

• COVID-19 Clinical Guidance For the Cardiovascular Care Team, American College of Cardiology.
• Coronaviruses and the cardiovascular system: acute and long-term implications, European Heart Journal (EHJ). 
• Are patients with hypertension more likely to get serious COVID-19?, NephJC (16 March 2020).
• My patient has one of the underlying medical conditions listed what should I tell my patient?, CDC. 
• Initial COVID-19 affecting cardiac patients in China, EHJ.
• Have a heart during the COVID-19 crisis: Making the case for cardiac rehabilitation in the face of an ongoing pandemic, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (EJPC). 
• Inside the heart of COVID-19, Cardiovascular Research (CVR).
• Optimising Secondary Prevention and Cardiac Rehabilitation for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.
• COVID-19: What does it mean for people with heart and circulatory disease?, European Heart Network (EHN). 
• ESC COVID-19 video series, European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
  • –Cardiac Care in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  • –Acute Coronary Syndromes in COVID-19: Treatment considerations
  • –Cardiac complications in COVID-19: myocarditis.
  • –COVID-19 and cardiovascular drugs.

Public Health recommendations

COVID-19 and non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

• COVID-19 and NCDs, WHO.
• Coronavirus: what it means for you if you have heart or circulatory disease, British Heart Foundation (BHF). 
• Advice for people living with cardiovascular disease, Australian Heart Foundation.
• The Heart in the Time of the ‘Coronavirus’, Global Heart.
• Preventing COVID-19 spread in poor areas, WHF, (05 March 2020). 
• COVID-19 control in low-income settings and displaced populations: what can realistically be done?, Health in Humanitarian Crisis Centre, (20 March 2020).
• COVID-19 and Chagas Disease, Chagas Coalition.
  • –Q&A on COVID-19 and Chagas disease
  • –Preguntas y Respuestas sobre COVID-19 y Chagas [Spanish]
  • –Perguntas e Respostas sobre COVID-19 e Doença de Chagas [Portuguese]

COVID-19 and mental health  

• Tips for helping children cope with stress, WHO.
• Tips for coping with stress as adults, WHO.
• Briefing on supporting various population groups from team leaders or managers in health facilities to people in isolation, WHO.
• Recorded version of the live Q&A on mental health, WHO.
• Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): What parents should know, UNICEF. 
• Coronavirus (COVID-19) isolation guidance, Australian Government Department of Health.
• Potential psychological effects of quarantine and how to mitigate them, UKIR.

COVID-19 and physical activity

• Q&A on Be Active during COVID-19, WHO.
• Physical activity tips while during self-isolation, WHO.
• Exercise and eat healthy while in self-quarantine, WHO.
• American Heart Association Move More: Sofa Stretch, AHA. 
• Strength and flexibility exercises, BHF.

Useful sources of information

COVID-19 basics 

• World Health Organization
• Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
• The Lancet Resource Centre
• John Hopkins Resource Centre
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Harvard Medical School
• UK Research and Innovation

COVID-19 and CVD

• American College of Cardiology
• American Heart Association
• Argentina Society of Cardiology
• British Heart Foundation
• CROI Heart & Stroke
• Danish Heart Foundation
• Dutch Heart Foundation
• Dutch association for people with cardiovascular diseases (Harteraad)
• European Society of Cardiology
• Faroese Heart Foundation
• Finnish Heart Association
• German Heart Foundation
• Heart and Stroke Foundation
• Hellenic Heart Foundation
• Icelandic Heart Association
• Irish Heart Foundation
• Italian Heart Association and Resuscitation
• Italian Heart Foundation
• Ligue Cardiologique Belge
• National Heart Foundation of Australia
• Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS)
• Portuguese Heart Foundation
• Spanish Heart Foundation
• Spanish Society of Cardiology
• Swedish Heart & Lung Association
• Swedish Heart Lung Foundation
• Swiss Heart Foundation