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Summary
- COVID-19 warrior Physicist honoured with a membership in the New Zealand Order of Merit.
- Shaun Cameron Hendy’s studies have prevented several possible COVID-19-related deaths.
- New Zealand’s COVID-19 response is considered as one of the best in the world, with only 2,162 confirmed cases till date.
Year 2020 has been difficult for people across the world with the coronavirus pandemic spewing hellfire over everything that came in its way. Besides irreparable loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, there has also been stifling losses incurred to businesses all over the world.
Having borne its share of COVID-19-related losses, New Zealand, it seems, has landed on its feet commendably faster.
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COVID-19 warrior honoured
Recently, physicist Shaun Cameron Hendy, who has put in ceaseless efforts for one of the best COVID-19 responses in the world, has been appointed New Zealand Order of Merit member.
He has played a crucial role in the control of the virus in New Zealand. Hendy used his years of expertise to figure out how the virus could spread to the different parts of the country in several possible scenarios.
His body of work revealed how truly threatful the disease was and encouraged the government to take the most stringent measures early on, to prevent further spread of the virus.
He said in an interview that if someone had told him a year ago that he would be working on tracing the trajectories of an infectious disease, he would have been surprised. He further said that even though it had been a testing year; he was glad he could play a role in helping New Zealand overcome the threat of the pandemic and prevent the loss of several lives in due course of time.
About Shaun Cameron Hendy
- Hailing from Palmerston North, Hendy completed his PhD from the Canada-based University of Alberta.
- Currently, he teaches at the University of Auckland whilst also being the Director of Te Punaha Matatini research centre.
- It was Hendy and his colleagues from the research centre who had first started studying about the spread of the virus, in the initial phases of the pandemic.
- Hendy worked closely with the Ministry of Health, telling them about the rate of transmission of the disease in different situations, according to his studies and projections.
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Study revelations
His studies are of the view that if corrective measures were not taken at the right time, there could have been serious repercussions. The virus could infect as much as 89% of the total population of the country and cause as many as 80,000 deaths.
After these predictions, the government followed a strict plan of action to ensure fool-proof lockdowns. Hendy was of the view that even though he had to work for long hours and 7 days a week at a stretch, the results were worth it.
With New Zealand’s COVID-19 response being one of the best in the world and drawing applauses from all walks of life, Hendy is glad that his team has prevented excessive deaths.
