Valuable lessons about how to manage a situation where thousands of people die from a deadly strain of influenza are being learned by the Ministry of Health and DHBs following a month-long nationwide emergency exercise.
The ministry's mock emergency - Exercise Virex, ended on February 14, and involved around 400 participants.
"The purpose of the exercise was to update New Zealand's Influenza pandemic Preparedness Plan so the country is as prepared as it can be for an influenza pandemic," says exercise director Robyn Fitzgerald.
A scenario was drip-fed to participants during a month mimicking how an influenza pandemic might evolve in New Zealand.
