The spread of the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19) has reached pandemic proportions and represents a threat for increased morbidity and mortality, globally. In many regions this increased morbidity and mortality is particularly seen in older persons and those presenting with co-morbidities such as overt diabetes, obesity and hypertension [1–4]. The high incidence of diabetes throughout the world makes this particularly concerning as the COVID-19 pandemic progresses. To this point emerging data particularly from China, indicates that patients with diabetes are at high risk for COVID-19 infection. For example, a large observational report [2] including 1099 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection indicated that in 173 with severe disease there existed the comorbidities of hypertension (23· 7%), diabetes mellitus (16· 2%), coronary heart diseases (5· 8%), and cerebrovascular disease (2· 3%). In a another study [3] of 140 patients who were admitted to a hospital with COVID-19, 30% had hypertension and 12% had diabetes.