LETTER TO THE EDITOR Telemedicine and COVID‑19 559 from the patient’s home to a healthcare center, thus assisting in disease management. 6 Telemon- itoring can be used synchronously (telephone and video) and asynchronously through email com- munication, artifcial intelligence (AI) agents (text and voice chatbots), and wearable devices, while medical data are gathered on patient portals. 6 Furthermore, a synergistic hybrid virtual care approach provides strong support in population- -wide triaging and patient-centered care (FIguRE 1). However, despite the available data and the grow- ing interest in TM among cardiologists, its use has not been widely adopted. 7 Tis is mainly due to lack of a multidisciplinary approach to the pa- tient, which is in line with the modern concept of personalized medicine, and lack of fnancial support. Advances in data collection and trans- fer (Bluetooth, broadband, and Wi-Fi) allow for the regular, reliable, and accurate communication of vital signs and symptoms from community- -based patients. 6 As even a 6-minute hall walk test can be per- formed with the use of a smartphone application, a variety of novel technologies can be employed to support patient monitoring during a public health emergency, for example: clinical electron- ic thermometers, heart rate monitors, electrocar- diographs (ECGs), cardiac monitors, over-the- -counter electrocardiogram software, pulse ox- imetry (SpO 2 ), noninvasive blood pressure moni- tors, respiratory rate or breathing frequency mon- itors, and electronic stethoscopes. 2 Adoption of TM services gives the opportuni- ty to maintain continuity of medical care while reducing the potential for community spread of the virus. Te main purpose is to deliver care at a distance, without direct physical contact with the patient, ofering in-person clinic visits only to those who have urgent (yet not emergency- -level) clinical concerns requiring a detailed phys- ical examination. Recent evidence has shown that To the editor From January 2020, severe acute re- spiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has rapidly spread from China around the world. With more than 6.4 million infections worldwide, COVID-19 remains a se- rious global public health concern. Extensive measures to reduce person-to-person transmis- sion of the disease have been undertaken to con- trol the current outbreak. In several countries, the quarantine has been one of those measures, including home isolation and avoiding social con- tacts with other people in the neighborhood, su- permarkets, or public transport. In fact, a great proportion of the world pop- ulation is currently in some kind of isolation. Terefore, the COVID-19 pandemic has abrupt- ly disorganized healthcare across the world, forc- ing systems to divert both human and econom- ic resources to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. 1,2 Nonemergency procedures and follow-up consul- tations with family physicians, cardiologists, and other healthcare and / or medical professionals have been postponed and / or cancelled. Tis de- cision was taken to free up hospital beds for pa- tients with COVID-19. 3 Furthermore, a propor- tion of medical professionals have been reallocat- ed in order to support the care of these patients. 3 Lastly, healthcare professionals are at high risk of infection—this is something that can prove det- rimental in combating this pandemic. Te generic terms “telemonitoring” or “tele- health” cover a wide range of activities aimed at delivering care at a distance, without direct physical contact with an individual or a patient. 4 Telemonitoring (TM) was credited with the po- tential to improve medical care, quality of life, and prognosis of chronically ill patients. 5 Home TM involves the use of electronic devices and telecom- munication technologies for digital transmission of physiological and other disease-related data LETTER TO THE EDITOR Telemedicine in cardiology in the time of coronavirus disease 2019: a friend that everybody needs George Koulaouzidis, Dafni Charisopoulou, Wojciech Wojakowski, Anastasios Koulaouzidis, Wojciech Marlicz, Tomasz Jadczyk