COVID-19, Christmas, the New Year and Summer Holidays: What the NZ Government and individuals can do to minimise the risks

Friday, December 17th, 2021 | carra86p | No Comments

Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Dr Julie Bennett, Dr Lucy Telfar Barnard, Professor Michael G Baker*

As Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) prepares for the upcoming summer holidays and Christmas celebrations, the impact of COVID-19 will surely be felt by all. In this blog we briefly discuss the two major COVID-19 threats that NZ will need to manage between now and the end of January: New Zealand’s domestic Delta variant outbreak and the growing international Omicron variant threat. Both require policy responses from Government and action from all New Zealanders.

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The changing COVID-19 situation in Taiwan – what can NZ learn from Taiwan’s latest outbreak?

Tuesday, July 13th, 2021 | carra86p | 2 Comments

Jennifer Summers, Leah Grout, Michael Baker, Amanda Kvalsvig, Nick Wilson* (author details*)

We previously published an assessment of Taiwan’s extremely effective response to COVID-19 during 2020. However, a recent surge of community cases in northern Taiwan from April 2021 onwards has resulted in an increasing mortality rate, with large scale restrictions imposed to bring the outbreak under control.  This COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan serves as a reminder to other jurisdictions, including NZ, of the threat posed by COVID-19 and its more infectious variants. We therefore recommend a range of short-term and long-term upgrades to NZ’s pandemic defences that we believe the Government needs to consider.

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