Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. Preventive policy during this outbreak possibly leads to a negative influence on the highly time-sensitive diseases such as acute ischemic stroke (AIS). The objective of this study was to determine the impact of the pandemic on rate of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) administration for AIS in Thailand.

Material and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study. The magnitude of COVID-19 pandemic in each province of Thailand was reviewed from the website of the Ministry of Public Health. The number of patients with AIS who received rtPA was taken from the National Health Security Office, from 1^st October 2019 to 21^st August 2021. We demonstrate the correlation between the pandemic severity and the rate of rtPA administration for patients with AIS.

Results: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 37 provinces (48%) in year 2020 and 50 provinces (64.9%) in year 2021 had a reduction in rate of rtPA administration, 40 provinces (51.9%) in year 2020 and 27 provinces (35%) in year 2021 had increase in rate of rtPA administration. Over a period of two years, 25 provinces (32.5%) had only decreased rate (Mean = 1.12% and 1.63% in year 2020 and 2021 respectively), 15 provinces (19.5%) had only increased rate (Mean = 1.71% and 1.17% in year 2020 and 2021 respectively), and 37 provinces (48%) had diverse in rate of rtPA administration among both years.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic does not cause a significant impact on the rate of rtPA administration for AIS in Thailand.