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| - ABSTRACT Fertility societies worldwide responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by recommending that fertility clinics close, or sharply reduce the clinical operation, leading to a shift in the management of IVF laboratories in three phases: (1)Shutdown preparation; (2)Maintenance during shutdown; (3)Restart. Each of these phases carries distinct risks that need identification and mitigation, forcing laboratory managers to rethink and adapt their procedures in response to the pandemic. The sudden and unprecedented nature of a pandemic forced lab managers from around the world to base decisions on personal opinion and experience when evidence-based response options were unavailable. These perspectives on pandemic response were presented during a virtual international symposium on Covid-19, held on 3 April, 2020, and organised by the London Laboratory Managers’ Group. Laboratory managers from seven different countries at different stages of the pandemic (China, Italy, Spain, France, UK, Brazil, Australia) presented their personal experiences to a select audience of experienced laboratory managers from 19 different countries. . The intention of this paper is to collect the learnings and considerations from this group of lab managers who collaborated to share personal experiences to contribute to the debate surrounding what constitutes good IVF laboratory practice in extraordinary circumstances, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
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