New development: ‘Healing at a distance’—telemedicine and COVID-19

In extreme circumstances such as pandemics, the presence of patients in hospital emergency becomes untenable. Healthcare professionals and organizations worldwide are on technology as a crucial ally to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. This article on the positive impact of telemedicine for helping service provision, from enabling triage to mitigating the negative psychological effects of social isolation. The authors the challenges and opportunities to telemedicine practices. article explains how telemedicine and other e-healthcare technologies can benefit people, staff and healthcare systems. One of the main challenges for telemedicine in many is the lack of regulations. The authors call on policy-makers to facilitate wider of e-healthcare technologies, while considering issues of inclusiveness, and data protection. The article informs managers about the use of new. Examples are provided of e-healthcare technologies implemented during the-19 pandemic, for example in terms of healthcare capacity and providing support to affected by quarantine.