On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared that the cluster of pneumonia cases caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) from Wuhan, China was a global pandemic.Citation1 As of April 5th 2020, over to 1.2 million cases have been reported worldwide, with over 65,000 deaths (source: WHO website), knowing that both values are certainly underestimated. Thus far, risk factors of COVID-19-related complications or fatal outcome are known to include advanced age (>70 years) and comorbidities such as preexisting respiratory, cardiac diseases, hypertension, and obesity.Citation2,Citation3 Patients living with cancer are at particularly high risk due to immunosuppression caused by both malignancy and anticancer treatments. Liang et al. were the first to describe a nation-wide analysis in China of COVID-19 cases in patients with a history of cancer.Citation4 Out of 1590 identified cases of COVID-19, 18 patients had a history of malignant disease, with lung cancer being the most frequent type of neoplasia. One quarter of these patients had received either chemotherapy or surgery during the month prior to diagnosis. The patients with cancer identified in this study were more likely to experience severe disease (with a higher risk of ICU-admission, invasive ventilation, and death), particularly those who received anti-cancer therapy in the month prior to COVID-19 diagnosis. Similarly, an Italian group reported that, among a COVID-19-positive population of 355 patients who succumbed to COVID-19 at the time of the publication, 20.3% had active cancer.Citation5 Amid the rapidly growing number of COVID-19 cases worldwide that have led to unprecedented stress on the health care system, cancer patients are also at a higher risk of not receiving planned treatment. To continue to provide care to oncological patients, prevention measures should immediately be implemented to protect cancer patients, health care professionals and maintain cancer units as COVID-free zones.