The action plan includes cancelling all sporting events, avoiding social gatherings, working from home where possible and avoiding all non-essential travel. Over-70s are advised to self-isolate for the foreseeable future and rely on family, friends and neighbours for shopping.
While the future effect on the NHS isn't yet known, as the government struggles to halt the spread of the virus, the impact in the shops is obvious, as panic-buying has led to empty shelves. Another area where Coronavirus is having an impact is recycling, with most fast-food chains banning the use of reusable coffee cups for health reasons.
© Maksym Yemelyanov / Adobe Stock
Who has banned reusable cups?
The temporary ban on reusable cups is happening not just in the UK, but all over the world. Some of the biggest fast food and coffee shop chains have joined the ban including McDonald's, Starbucks, Gourmet Food Parlour and Dublin-based 3fe Coffee - which also ships roast coffee all over the world.
This unexpected impact of the pandemic has set back global recycling efforts at a time when green campaigners felt they were winning the battle against single-use plastics. In particular, Starbucks' reusable coffee cup campaign was seen as a major step in the right direction.
Now, customers are told to no longer bring their own cups to the cafe for a refill due to the growing pandemic. In a statement to the media, a Starbucks' spokesperson said the company's decision to ban reusable cups was made because of concerns for "health and wellbeing". The company was hopeful it was a "temporary situation".
McDonald's said customers' safety when eating the food and drinks being served in its restaurants was of the "utmost importance". A company spokesperson said they had made a decision to suspend the use of reusable coffee cups at their restaurants across the US, Britain and Canada.
The ban is open-ended, as no-one knows how long the crisis situation will last. As well as drinking from reusable cups potentially causing a hazard, passing the containers backwards and forwards also creates extra hand contact between staff and customers, which companies now aim to eliminate.
Media reports on the BBC website quoted a health expert as saying that containing COVID-19 was currently a bigger priority than concerns over the environment.
What about reusable water bottles?
There is also medical advice available for people using reusable water bottles and drinks dispensers in the workplace. For people still travelling into work and not working from home, concerns have been raised about whether they should be drinking from a reusable water bottle or coffee cup. Employees feel they may be safer using new disposable cups and throwing them away after one use. Some companies have told their staff not to take in reusable bottles and cups at the moment.
Medical experts are divided on the safest way to manage drinks in the workplace, adding to the general confusion about the spread of Coronavirus. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 mainly spreads through careless coughs and sneezes and not via a personal water bottle.
This view is backed by the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Health Security, in the US, where experts advise the best line of defence in the workplace is washing your hands regularly - people's office water bottles are unlikely to spread the virus.
What about communal water dispensers?
If there's a communal water dispenser, or coffee machine, where everyone sticks their bottle or cup underneath, people must be conscientious about not touching it with a used drinks container, according to researchers at Georgetown University’s department of microbiology.
Cleaning your water bottle at work should be a regular habit, as should handwashing, especially if you've been in the kitchen, where many members of staff from different departments are likely to have touched the water dispenser, taps, coffee machine or kettle.
Reusable bottles should be washed frequently with soap and warm water, rather than just a quick rinse under the tap. If sponges and dishcloths are used in the kitchen at work, they should be washed regularly in hot water and allowed to dry before being used again.
Meanwhile, recycling centres across the world are monitoring the situation closely, in case workers are being exposed to the virus through sorting used items. Although no recycling centres have been reported as closing yet, workers have been given guidelines to minimise the risks, including treating any waste suspected of possible contamination in the same way as regulated medical waste.
As with any other industry, employees of recycling plants who have sick family members are advised to tell their supervisors, even if they aren't showing any signs of illness themselves.
As a responsible company, Solent Plastics recognises the risks of Coronavirus and the importance of following the guidelines put in place by the government and health experts. We hope the pandemic is soon brought under control, not only in terms of people's health, but also to keep the positive effects of recycling in motion.