Revision to joint alert level 1 guidelines
On 8 June 2020, the Ministry of Health (the Ministry) and Dental Council issued joint guidelines for oral health services at COVID-19 alert level 1. Subsequently the Ministry issued COVID-19 alert level 1 risk assessment criteria for the wider health and disability sector.
What changes have been made to the alert level 1 guidelines?
The principal change to the joint Ministry and Council level 1 guidelines relate to the management of oral health patients with respiratory symptoms who have no other COVID-related epidemiological risk factors. These patients must now be managed as low risk patients, rather than high risk patients.
The updated Ministry and Council alert level 1 guidelines (dated 23 June 2020) have been uploaded to our website and replace the previous version. Changes between the two versions are summarised in Appendix 2 of the new guidelines.
The COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, and we will keep oral health practitioners updated with any further changes to the guidelines as required.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.