Impact of COVID-19
COVID-19 is a coronavirus disease caused by a new coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 (short for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) that was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2019 (WHO 2020). The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spread quickly after it was first reported and was declared an international pandemic by WHO on 11 March 2020.
To protect clients, staff, and the community from the risk of COVID-19, BreastScreen Australia services were suspended nationwide from 25 March 2020. The suspension was lifted around a month later for most services, but a staged approach was introduced with longer appointment times and precautionary measures to ensure the safety of clients and staff. The rate at which BreastScreen services could resume was affected by jurisdictional social distancing and infection control guidelines.
Most BreastScreen services stayed open, with these additional precautionary measures, for the following years, despite additional lockdowns and increasing numbers of cases of COVID-19. The effects of lower participation over the years 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 are apparent in the data presented in this report, with many performance indicators reporting on data for the years 2022 and 2023. Future work will provide a better understanding of the potential long-term, indirect health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer screening and outcomes.
Box BreastScreen Australia 2: Impact of COVID-19 on Estimated Resident Populations.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting Australian Government closure of the international border from 20 March 2020, caused significant disruptions to the usual Australian population trends. This report uses Australian Estimated Resident Population (ERP) estimates that reflect these disruptions.
In the 12-month period July 2020 to June 2021, the overall population growth was much smaller than the years prior, and in particular, there was a relatively large decline in the population of Victoria. ABS reporting indicates these were primarily due to net-negative international migration (ABS 2021).
This change in the usual population trends may complicate interpretation of statistics calculated from these ERPs. For example, rates and proportions may be greater than in previous years due to decreases in the denominator (population) of some sub-populations.
WHO (World Health Organization) (2020) Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, accessed 22 January 2021.