Practices may soon have to begin cancelling routine appointments and check-ups to deal with the effects of a Covid-19 epidemic, a senior GP has warned.

The warning came as a health minister was confined to her home last night after being diagnosed with Covid-19 infection. Nadine Dorries fell ill last Friday and had the diagnosis confirmed last night. Her illness will force decisions at the heart of government as contact tracing will draw in senior NHS officials and politicians – and potentially the whole of Parliament, just as Boris Johnson’s first budget is due to be announced today.

The UK reported its sixth fatality from the disease yesterday and an additional 54 diagnoses, bringing the total to 383. In Italy there were an additional 168 deaths. The World Health Organisation, whose data is about 24 hours behind national data, reported 203 extra deaths globally.

Speaking to the BBC, British Medical Association GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said: “We do expect cases to rise rapidly and over the coming weeks. We will need to stop doing much of the routine work that we do week-by-week to enable us to focus on the sickest patients and prioritise those who most need us. Practices that are routinely doing routine health checks, assessing blood pressure, diabetic control, and long term problems with heart and lung disease. Those routine checks will need to stop.”

He added: “We’ll need to prioritise not only those with potential Covid infections, but also the sickest patients who will need to continue to receive our direct care. It does mean that some patients may have to wait longer than normal to see their GP.”

Meanwhile the government has been under pressure to explain how its plans to deploy retired doctors will work, the Guardian reported. MP Dr Dan Poulter tabled a question in Parliament and was told an answer could not be provided but “was being prepared.”

Dr Poulter told the paper: “Many recently retired medical staff could be effectively utilised during the coming weeks as the virus spreads, and particularly if patient demand on the NHS exceeds its normal capacity for care. This answer from the Department of Health is concerning and the department needs to do some urgent thinking about how they can temporarily increase workforce capacity in the NHS as the virus spreads.Ensuring these medical professionals can get back to work in a timely manner is an important part of that process.”

British Medical Association chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “If the government is serious about recruiting retired doctors back into the NHS to deal with Covid-19, it must make the plans and details known to facilitate this in an effective way. Retired doctors have a wealth of knowledge and experience and some may be willing to contribute their skills during this emergency. However, there needs to be clarity about how they will be registered to provide medical services, including their scope of work and training required. These logistics will take time and therefore it is important that this information is made clear now so that retired doctors can plan accordingly.”