Cancer diagnosis is one quarter lower than the expected cancer incidence in the first year of COVID-19 pandemic in Germany:A retrospective register-based cohort study

Dear Editor,The coronavirus disease of 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has necessitated that semi-urgent and elective medical cases,including cancer screenings,are postponed in hospitals worldwide to accommodate the increasing number of patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms[1-4].Consequently,several reports from the first COVID-19 wave in spring 2020 showed a significant decrease in new cancer diagnoses as well as cancer therapy and screenings[5,6].