Table 1.

Examples of measures taken in 3 different countries (China, Iran, and Italy)

China [32]	Iran [33]	Italy [29]
Pleading the public for blood donations, instead of having volunteer donors at blood drives	Creating online system for coordination among blood centers	Reorganizing hospital activities
Recruiting donors through traditional and social media	Ensuring enough personal protective equipment for employees and donors	Running national media campaigns to increase awareness on blood donation
Providing donors with information about COVID-19 before hand and taking appointments to donate blood	Changing the style of waiting line chairs at donation sites	Deferring donors who had fever*, symptoms of respiratory tract infection**, or who have had contact with a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 within the past 2 weeks of donation
Deferring blood donations from donors traveling from, or residing in, the regions hardest hit by COVID-19	Increasing disinfection of all the contacting surfaces
Performing pre-donation screening (temperature check, physical exam)	Decreasing waiting time through an online ticketing system
Thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting all sites of blood donation	Increasing working hours of donation centers and removing weekend holidays
Providing full equipment and protection gear to laboratory staff

*Fever defined as temperature >37.5 °C

**Cough, dyspnea, sore throat, rhinorrhea