28 Apr 2020

Coronavirus: Too early to say virus eliminated - Baker

From Morning Report, 7:12 am on 28 April 2020

New Zealand has been making international headlines overnight for "eliminating" Covid 19.

A story titled "Coronavirus currently eliminated in NZ" led the BBC website.

Similar stories appeared in the United States and Australia.

Most stories quoted Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield from yesterday's press briefing, where he said that there was only one case in the whole of April that hasn't had it's origin sucessfully traced.

But University of Otago public health expert Professor Michael Baker says talk of elimination is premature.