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Dedicated to Serving Healthcare Services

The novel coronavirus is a serious situation for the consideration of all, but particularly for those in the healthcare community. During this global crisis, we commit to continuing our focus by ensuring every effort is made to operate with minimal interruptions of key products and services while providing timely and appropriate guidance to our customers, employees and stakeholders.

For more than 100 years, Olympus has focused on making people’s lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling by helping detect, prevent and treat disease, furthering scientific research and ensuring public safety. In the face of COVID-19, we are proud of, and grateful to, the customers we serve. We honor their efforts to safeguard the health of the public worldwide and strive to help in any way possible.

From our family to yours, Thank You!
Continuity of Care

The health and safety of our employees, our customers and the patients they treat and our global communities are extremely important to us. We are doing everything we can to maintain supplies while also being vigilant about the risk. Although delays may occur, we do not foresee any significant impact to business continuity.

We will continue working closely with infection prevention societies and regulatory agencies addressing this important human health concern.

COVID-19 Webinars

Informational webinars to provide guidance and answer questions about COVID-19.

Olympus Medical Resources

Olympus Technical Support

Olympus has a highly-trained team that is available to address any technical issues you may have

Phone: 1-888-387-4022
Email: ocitechsupport@olympus.com

Education

A variety of educational opportunities for medical and surgical healthcare professionals
LEARN MORE

COVID-19 Social Distancing
and Good Hygiene Signs

Digital and printable signs available for healthcare facilities to download and use in waiting rooms, patient rooms and bathrooms.
Digital Version for Monitors
Printable Version

FAQ: Endoscopy Facility Restart Check Points

A FAQ document that addresses the most frequently asked questions regarding COVID-19 and details on resuming procedures.
LEARN MORE

COVID-19 Q&A

Does Olympus have a statement regarding the Coronavirus?

While offices in China slowly start resuming regular operation, many offices in other Asian countries, Americas and in EMEA are working in shifts and/or from home where applicable. Manufacturing sites, field force and repair centers have taken precautionary measures but will continue operating regularly until further notice. To minimize employees’ potential exposure to this virus, Olympus globally made the decision to restrict all international business travel for the time being. This travel restriction will remain in place until further notice and restrictions are subject to change based on the evolving situation.

We recognize that government guidance around the world varies by location and in some instances is stricter than Olympus’ global guidance. In those cases, the local guidance takes precedence.

We are fully committed to keep all stakeholders up to date as needed and strictly follow guidance by national authorities, leading associations or the Financial Instruments Exchange in Japan.

How you will manage potential shortages and delays?

Olympus is continually monitoring the global developments around the COVID-19 pandemic and has set up a global task force to ensure business continuity. The health and safety of our employees, our customers and the patients they treat, and our global communities are extremely important to us. We are doing everything we can do to maintain supplies while also being vigilant about the risk. We are paying special attention to partners in the healthcare industry, who are at the center of working to address this global crisis. Although we do not foresee any short-term impact at this time, we are continually assessing our situation and will promptly inform stakeholders about changes whenever appropriate.

What is the status of sterilization of Olympus medical devices?

Regarding infection prevention, research has shown that coronaviruses (amongst which is the COVID-19 virus) belong to the group of enveloped viruses. Precedents of the COVID-19 virus can be inactivated with standard disinfection processes.i,ii WEO, the World Endoscopy Organization, states that no additional approach is needed for endoscope cleaning and disinfection, since coronavirus including the COVID-19 virus is easy to inactivate using many common disinfectants.iii In the Olympus instructions for use (IFU), state-of-the-art processes and evidences are taken into account when describing how to reprocess an endoscope. After every patient use, the healthcare service provider needs to ensure that the endoscope and all endoscopic accessories are subject to comprehensive reprocessing in accordance with the IFU. All devices and accessories need to be properly stored until their next patient exam. Consequently, customers can continue to safely use their Olympus medical flexible endoscope, including bronchoscopes, when adhering to the instructions for use and utilizing reprocessing best practices of their respective markets.

References

  1. Nelson DB. Infection control during gastrointestinal endoscopy. Can J Gastroenterol. 2007;21(1):13–15. doi:10.1155/2007/169846
  2. Rabenau HF, Kampf G, Cinatl J, Doerr HW. Efficacy of various disinfectants against SARS coronavirus. J Hosp Infect. 2005;61(2):107-111. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2004.12.023
  3. http://www.worldendo.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Suggestions-of-Infection-Prevention-and-Control-in-Digestive-Endoscopy-During-Current-2019-nCoV-Pneumonia-Outbreak-in-Wuhan-Hubei-Province-China.pdf

Olympus Employees

At Olympus, the health and wellbeing of our employees is our top priority. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees globally are currently working in shifts and/or from home. Additionally, Olympus has restricted all international business travel for the time being.

The Work-From-Home guidance for employees is currently in place and continues to be re-evaluated based on local and national safety recommendations. Remote Olympus colleagues are socializing, networking and collaborating through Microsoft Office 365 tools and other technologies. Town Halls, hosted virtually for the first time, have been highly attended online.

A new sense of community and culture has emerged at Olympus, delivering an evolving form of unity to very diverse teams and businesses that is centered around our Core Values of Empathy and Agility. People on the front lines still working on site, and people behind the scenes working remotely, have been demonstrating their dedication to Olympus while expressing their pride and commitment to the organization through their actions and via their posts and communications.

To all Olympus employees on-site and in the field, Thank You!