COVID-19 and dental practice

Nobody could fail to miss the media coverage about novel coronavirus COVID-19, with daily and sometimes hourly updates about the ‘killer virus’. What exactly does it mean for dental practices in the UK?

At the time of writing (16 March 2020), the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the UK reached 1,391, and 35 people have died. England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty has warned that an epidemic in the UK is looking ‘likely’. Outside the UK, the rapidly spreading virus has reached 143 countries, with over 150,000 cases confirmed globally and nearly 6,000 deaths. Apart from Antarctica, every continent of the world is affected. The death toll in China, where the virus originated, is over 3,200. [WHO, 15 March] Italy is on lockdown and 1,809 people with COVID-19 have now died. The country is the hardest hit in Europe. In the United States, the president has declared a national emergency, with travel bans and some cities on lockdown.