The novel Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), which was identified in December 2019, has quickly evolved into a pandemic, thereby forcing spine surgeons to modify their daily practice. Several articles and guidelines have been published on how to manage daily routines during the pandemic.
Neurologic deficits, spinal instability and spinal infections are generally considered as emergencies and treated immediately. Every patient who is scheduled to undergo surgery must first be screened for signs and symptoms of the disease, and diagnostic tests must be conducted on suspected and high-risk patients. In addition, precautions must be taken in the operating room to minimise the risk of disease transmission.

In regions where the disease has started to decline, a gradual return to the normal routine activities is being considered. Surgeons must be aware of the local circumstances and elective surgeries can only be resumed when the safety of patients and healthcare personnel are no longer at risk. In this review article, we aimed to combine the data with our experience and help spine surgeons in adapting to the current situation.