Covid 19 coronavirus: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on travel bubble, community cases

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has still not given a clear timeline of a potential travel bubble with Australia.

The PM was in the Newstalk ZB studio this morning speaking to breakfast host Mike Hosking.

Talking about transtasman travel bubbles, she acknowledged that there were still coronavirus cases popping up in those places overseas and there was a need to tread carefully still.

She said one of the issues - which she has also raised with her Australian counterpart, Prime Minister Scott Morrison - was trying to get more clarity around internal border (restrictions) within Australia.

Any travel bubbles between New Zealand and Australian cities would still need to be analysed and dealt with carefully.

"We've got to make sure though that, in the future, if we were to say to have a hotspot - where we say, we have another breakout in Victoria - could we maintain our open movement with the likes of say, Brisbane," Ardern said.

"You could - if they had a border control regime that allowed it. So some of those details we still need to work through to make sure we don't have a stop-start.

"We do want to make sure we do it properly and do it carefully."

Home for Christmas? Yes - sort of

The PM also touched on the issue of Kiwis overseas trying to get home in time for Christmas - but struggling to secure a spot in managed isolation, which is now full.

Asked whether there might be a move to expand capacity in those facilities, she said: "No, not at this point in time".

Ardern said she had looked at the numbers last night and the capacity was tight.

"In fact there's no available places, from memory, up until about the 16th of December. After that - there's plenty.

"The issue is everyone wanting to come in, understandably, and get their quarantine done before Christmas," she said.

"What I'd say to people is: 'You will get back before Christmas. You just might not be able to spend it with your family."

On the wage subsidy, she said she would be asking the Ministry of Social Development to make do an audit on companies that had taken the offer up over the last few months.

That was on the back of companies such as Fulton Hogan, which took up the offer of a wage subsidy then went on to make a huge profit.

"There is a moral question here," Ardern said.

Kiwis trying to get home in time for Christmas may have to spend it in managed isolation. Photo / File

Defence Force staffers test positive

Meanwhile, Ardern said two Defence Force workers who had caught Covid-19 had been wearing full PPE when they were infected with the person who has been identified as being the source.

"This just reminds us how hard it is," she said.

Officials confirmed on Friday that a Defence Force worker at the Jet Park quarantine facility, in Auckland, had tested positive for Covid-19.

A second worker, from Wellington, then tested positive for the virus after being in the same meeting as that person last Wednesday.

That second case then caught a flight from Auckland to Wellington the next evening - on Thursday, November 5.

The person was in Auckland Airport's Domestic terminal from 5.30–7.45pm on the Thursday evening before flying to Wellington.

Other locations visited were:

• Avis Car Rental, Auckland Airport: 5–5.15pm, Nov 5

• Orleans Chicken & Waffles, Auckland Airport: 5.30–7pm, Nov 5

• The Gypsy Moth, Auckland Airport: 7–7.15pm, Nov 5

• Hudsons, Auckland Airport: 7–7.15pm, Nov 5

• Little Penang, The Terrace, Wellington: 1.15–3.45pm, Nov 6.

Anyone who visited these businesses during the relevant timeframes is being considered a Covid-19 "casual contact" with a low risk of exposure, the Ministry of Health says.

Officials are now calling for anyone who was sitting in row 23 of the Air New Zealand flight (NZ457) to get tested. Anyone else on that flight who may have concerns about their wellbeing is told to contact Healthline: 0800 358 5453.