Ramadan Fasting in SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Pandemic

Abstract

Uncorrected Proof Health Scope. 2020 August; 9(3):e105045. Published online 2020 August 26. doi: 10.5812/jhealthscope.105045. Letter Ramadan Fasting in SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Pandemic Mojtaba Akbari 1, Arefe Khaksar Jalali 2, Hossein Ansari 3 and Noureddin Soltanian 1, * 1 Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran 2 Faculty of Medical Sciences and Technologies, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran * Corresponding author: Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. Email: noureddinsol121@gmail.com Received 2020 May 25; Revised 2020 June 16; Accepted 2020 June 24. Keywords: Ramadan Fasting, SARS-CoV-2, Pandemic Dear Editor, Millions of Muslims live all over the world who fast during Ramadan every year. Various studies have been conducted on the impact of Ramadan fasting on different body organs reporting its positive results on health, such as a decrease in serum cholesterol and triglyceride and fa- vorable impacts on the immune system (1). Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coron- avirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has been a global concern from late 2019 due to its fast transmission and high pathologic effects (2). Owing to the beginning of Ramadan during the COVID- 19 pandemic, Muslims may worry whether the fasting in- creases the risk of coronavirus infection. People can be categorized into two groups based on their health status (Figure 1). The first group consists of people suffering from a disease such as malnutrition and kidney disease. This group should not fast, according to the Islamic rules, since fasting can negatively affect their health condition. The second group is healthy people who can be divided into two subcategories, including healthy people who follow self-isolation and those who cannot obey self-isolation rules and are forced to leave home for work or other requisite activities.