Vaccination is the only way out of the Delta outbreak.
That's the message from a medical expert after the Government reported 71 new Covid community cases in Auckland today.
Officials are warning daily infections will double in the next fortnight.
Auckland University Emeritus Professor Des Gorman told Heather du Plessis-Allan short sharp lockdowns have been useful, but things have changed.
“The time you’re getting to nine weeks and you’re seeing numbers going up and up and up, it’s impossible to imagine that the public will continue to comply with very strict stay-at-home guidelines.”
Gorman says the impact on hospitals could be similar to during flu season in winter and the level of sickness required to visit hospital or ICU will go up.
“The system will cope. It always has, it always will. But what you’ll see is avoidable deaths occurring, particularly in the elderly, and you’ll see a lot of people with cancer, heart disease and so on whose care will be deferred or delayed.”
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