Epidemiologist warns Covid-19 likely to kill 1,000 people in New Zealand this year

New Zealand epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker has said that Covid-19 is likely to kill 1,000 people in the country this year and cause 10,000 hospitalisations. He has called on the government to be cautious about ending remaining protections, including the mandatory self-isolation period for cases. While population immunity from vaccination and infection has reduced the rates of hospitalisation, the disease remains the country’s number one infectious disease killer and the number one infectious disease causing hospitalisation. Cabinet is due to decide whether to keep remaining measures, including mandatory self-isolation for seven days and mask use in some settings.