BACKGROUND: COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in conjunction with the pervasive hospital fear endured by the vast majority of the population played a fundamental role in discouraging access to emergency departments (EDs) We aimed at investigating whether and how the COVID-19 outbreak limited access to ED and affected urgent surgical activities during and immediately after the 2-month pandemic-related national lockdown METHODS: Data regarding patients who accessed to the surgical ED were retrospectively collected Analysed time-periods included: 'Pre-COVID-19 Era', 'COVID-19 Era' considered as the period of full national lockdown and 'Post-COVID-19 Era' after easing of lockdown measures Consecutive emergency surgical procedures and ED admissions before, during and after COVID-19-lockdown were retrieved and analysed RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in overall ED admissions and in all-specialty surgical consultations (P