Two New Zealand scientists who helped the Government with its response to the Covid-19 pandemic have been recognised in this year’s New Year’s Honours list.
Professors Michael Baker and Shaun Hendy have both been made Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year’s list.
Baker has been given the title for his services to public health while Hendy was a recipient for services to science.
Baker has been recognised as one of New Zealand’s leading epidemiologists, having worked in the public health sector for more than 30 years.
Dr Michael Baker warned that the new strain remains a “real threat” to New Zealand over the next few months.
In that time, he has expressed a range of public health research interests, with a particular focus on infectious diseases, environmental health and housing, of which he has published widely in.
When the pandemic hit, Baker was made a member of the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 Technical Advisory Group and quickly became a strong advocate for eliminating the virus and keeping it out of the country, over the approach of flattening the curve.
As such, his commentary helped inform the Government’s nationwide lockdown.
Hendy, on the other hand, helped the Ministry of Health and the Government with his projections on the rate of transmission under different alert level scenarios.
rofessor Shaun Hendy says hygiene, social distancing, and contact tracing remain vital as restrictions ease.
To date, New Zealand has had just 2151 confirmed cases of Covid-19, of which 2077 have recovered. The vast majority of cases have been detected at the border. Twenty-five people have died because of the virus.
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