Coronavirus: NZ politicians Chlöe Swarbrick, Tracey Martin in self-isolation after overseas travel

Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick travelled to Australia over the weekend and will self-isolate for 14 days when she returns to New Zealand.

"I have been overseas and as such will be following the protocols outlined by the Prime Minister," Swarbrick said today.

"These protocols were designed to keep everyone healthy. I do not have any symptoms, but I am registering my whereabouts with the Ministry of Health and will be following advice."

Green Party co-leader James Shaw said the party would support Swarbrick to work remotely.

"We have been in contact with Parliament's Speaker. Obviously Chlöe won't be coming to Parliament or attending any public events.

"Green MPs who are away from Wellington regularly video-conference into caucus meetings, so Chlöe will still be able to participate fully in the work of the Green Party.

"We'll miss Chlöe's presence in Parliament but I'm sure she'll be back before long."

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NZ First MP and Minister Tracey Martin is also in self-isolation after coming into contact with infected Australian Minister Peter Dutton last week, though Martin has said she also has no Covid-19 symptoms.

PM: We can enforce self-isolation requirements

Meanwhile Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today that the Government and the police can enforce self-isolation.

And she says the Government's economic package, to be announced on Tuesday, will be the most significant one-off injection into the economy of her entire tenure as Prime Minister.

Yesterday Ardern announced that any person from any country, excluding the Pacific islands, is now required to self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival to the country, and she encouraged all New Zealanders to avoid all non-essential travel overseas.

As well as affecting thousands of people's travel plans, the move is expected to significantly impact Kiwis' jobs and New Zealand economy.

This morning Ardern sought to calm fears about whether people would self-isolate properly, saying that the 10,500 New Zealanders who had done it so far had been overly compliant, with some staying home for more than 14 days.

But she said authorities, including police, had the power to quarantine people at a medical facility and station staff at the door.

That power had not been used so far, she told TVNZ's Q+A this morning.

The Government has been constantly looking at global developments, and the new restrictions unveiled on Saturday were the next step to "go hard" to flatten the curve.

The goal was to avoid a large-scale community spread of the virus, and the new travel restrictions were about keeping pressure off the public health system as the number of positive cases rose.