Should New Zealand come out of lockdown on April 22, it should be "very cautiously" staged and carefully managed, infectious disease specialist Dr Ayesha Verrall says.
Dr Verrall told TVNZ1's Q+A with Jack Tame the two Covid-19 linked deaths announced yesterday, bringing New Zealand's mortality rate to four, was a "reminder how serious the situation is".
However she said the lowering number of daily new Covid-19 cases, yesterday sitting at 29, was "very encouraging".
When asked by Tame what a post-lockdown New Zealand would look like, Dr Verrall said "it certainly won’t be a return to life as we remember it in February all of a sudden".
"It will need to be a staged and carefully managed reduction of those restrictions," she said, referring to alert Level 4 restrictions.
"Hopefully we’ll be able to have more people return to work, hopefully meeting our friends more than we currently can, some return to schools."
Dr Verrall said one aspect that needed to be looked at post lockdown was large indoor gatherings, "and how we restrict them and make them safe".
Dr Verrall, an infectious disease specialist, talks to Q+A about the Covid-19 lockdown. (Source: Other)
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