COVID-19

The MRINZ has been playing its part in the COVID-19 pandemic response effort by conducting research and collating evidence to improve our knowledge on this novel disease.

We rapidly surveyed the New Zealand population using social media during Alert Level 4 to determine the composition of New Zealand’s “bubbles”. We found that bubbles mostly had one household, and a high proportion contained essential workers and/or vulnerable people. Understanding these characteristics from a country which achieved a low COVID-19 infection rate may help inform public health interventions during this and future pandemics.

The MRINZ is part of a nation-wide team funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) COVID-19 Innovation Acceleration Fund. The team includes some of New Zealand’s most renowned and experienced researchers, clinicians, chemists and scientists from the University of Auckland, University of Otago, Glycosyn, Victoria University, Ferrier Research Institute and ESR. We are working to tackle New Zealand’s need for rapid access to anti-viral and other therapeutic medications to treat COVID-19.

The MRINZ is also looking into potential prophylaxis measures against COVID-19. We have partnered with University College Dublin in Ireland to set-up an international, multi-centre trial of prophylaxis with hydroxychloroquine in frontline healthcare workers. We are also conducting research questionnaires to assess the attitudes towards a COVID-19 vaccine in health care workers in New Zealand.

We conducted an analysis of excess mortality rates in 22 countries and found considerable international variation in mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that increases in all-cause mortality preceded the rise in COVID-19 mortality and the number of COVID-19 deaths is underestimated by >25%. These findings suggest excess all-cause mortality is a better predictor of COVID-19 mortality than the reported rates.

We have been working in conjunction with Regional Public Health to explore the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in the Greater Wellington region. We had 96 confirmed cases during the first wave of which the majority were imported cases from overseas. We also set up an observational study to determine how COVID-19 impacts on the physical and mental health of confirmed cases.

The MRINZ has also been involved in collaborations during the pandemic. We are a site for the COHESION study which is a national, multi-site study assessing the clinical and demographic predictors of COVID-19 severity in New Zealand in partnership with the University of Otago, Auckland, Waitamata, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Mid Central, Capital & Coast, Hutt Valley and Canterbury District Health Boards.

2020 has been a challenging and ever-changing year, and the MRINZ is proud to have a dedicated and flexible team that have actively engaged with COVID-19 research.