Michael Baker

Covid-19 deaths and hospitalisations remain low in Te Wai Pounamu as the Omicron wave washes through the south.

Experts say it's still too early to celebrate with cases on the rise.

Timothy Brown… Audio

Twenty-two people with Covid-19 have died in New Zealand in the past three days - that's nearly a 5th of the country's total death toll since the virus arrived here more than two years ago. We've… Audio

Panellists Verity Johnson and Conor English talk to Michael Baker about exercising when self-isolating and share what they have been thinking. Audio

Professor Michael Baker talks to Jesse about the rapid rise in cases and why people shouldn't be alarmed. Audio

The country will move to Phase Two of the Government's Omicron plan from midnight tonight, with the number of daily Covid cases likely to pass the one-thousand mark today. This comes after three… Audio

Epidemiologist, Professor Michael Baker said late last week, the number of actual covid infections was likely to be ten times the number that had been reported. And then today - a record number of 981… Audio

The phased border reopening will begin at one-minute-to the 28th of February.

Māni Dunlop gets expert analysis of the plan from Otago University professor of epidemiology Michael Baker. Audio

Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker says his heart goes out to Charlotte Bellis and others desperate to return to Aotearoa.

Bellis is currently pregnant and stuck in Afghanistan after missing out… Audio

A top epidemiologist thinks New Zealand could see a better Omicron scenario than what a highly respected overseas health research organisation is modelling. 

New Zealand could be facing 50,000 daily… Audio

Epidemiologist Michael Baker says tough isolation rules around Omicron cases should ease once the outbreak takes hold in the community.

Household contacts of a positive case could end up isolating… Audio

Data modellers believe half of all New Zealanders could be infected with Omicron within four months.

The highly infectious Covid-19 variant is circulating in Auckland, and possibly in the Nelson… Audio

New Zealand is waking up to tighter Covid-19 restrictions this morning after confirmation that a family in the Nelson-Tasman region have the Omicron variant. Ten people have now tested positive in the… Audio

The Ministry of Health has confirmed the airport worker who tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday has the Omicron variant.

The Ministry released the genome sequencing results late last night.

A… Audio

Covid-19 experts are nervously eyeing the ever increasing number of infected cases stacking up at the border, as the threat of an Omicron outbreak looms.

The highly transmissible variant has rapidly… Audio

Over the past two years, we've all become armchair experts about the virus.

We know how to tell how fast it's spreading, how you get it and what you can do to protect yourself.

But it's time for… Audio

The country's Covid-19 contact tracing system is being upgraded to deal with the highly infectious Omicron variant.

It struggled in the Delta outbreak and will be critical for containing the much… Audio

A public health expert is warning managed isolation and quarantine hotels will be swamped with Omicron cases unless there are tougher rules to keep more people out.

There are 22 confirmed cases of… Audio

We hear about the real world implications of breakthrough research on acute rheumatic fever. Audio

An epidemiologist says the reopening of the trans-tasman bubble must be postponed, and any loosening of MIQ protocols reviewed urgently.

Keeping the border secure is critical, according to Michael… Audio