Even a mild pandemic could kill 21,000 Australians and 15 million globally, he said. When Sam said she "didn't believe the numbers coming out of China", Kochie gave her an eye roll. "That is such a lame argument to back up a personal opinion," he said.
Nat Barr pointed out that Sam believing the death toll in China was higher than reported was similar to Koch slamming the economist's predictions. "But he's predicting those, they're not facts." Koch said.
While Kochie claimed the predictions were "irresponsible", Mr McKibbin told 7NEWS the study discusses multiple scenarios. "They are the assumptions of different combinations of infection rates and mortality rate from historical pandemics," he said.
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