One suspected case of coronavirus in NZ, Government announces new travel restrictions

A health worker wears protective suit at the infectious disease clinic in Zagreb, Croatia, where the first coronavirus case in Croatia is hospitalized.

There is one suspected case of coronavirus in New Zealand.

The person, from Iran, is in Auckland City Hospital and the results of their test will be made public this afternoon, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told reporters at a press conference today.

So far, the Government has conducted 130 Coronavirus tests in New Zealand - they have all come back negative.

The Government has announced a raft of new measures to combat the spread of coronavirus, including new travel restrictions from Iran.

The Government will also be bolstering the health presence at international airports and there will be no exemptions for overseas students from China to enter New Zealand, says Health Minister David Clark.

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Clark said the Government was "stepping up" its response to preventing coronavirus from entering the country.

A pandemic plan is in place, he confirmed.

"The Government's priority continues to be the health and safety of New Zealanders."

Clark said, based on the medical and scientific advice the Government has received, ministers have put in place further temporary travel restrictions covering incoming travellers from Iran.

"This means people will not be able to travel from Iran to New Zealand and anyone who has been in Iran in the last 14 days will need to self-isolate.

"This is a sensible precaution. Many airlines have already cancelled flights from Iran."

New Zealand citizens and permanent residents will still be allowed to return home, he said, but they will be told to self-isolate for 14 days.

These restrictions will come into force immediately and will initially apply until midnight, March 3.

After that, they will be reassessed every 48 hours – the same process the Government has used with the China travel ban.

Starting tomorrow, health staff will scale up to meet all direct international flights landing at New Zealand airports from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand.

"They will be available to provide advice and check passengers – particularly anyone that is unwell or displaying symptoms of concern," Clark said.

"These enhanced travel restrictions and an increased border presence add to our existing actions to limit the risk of it entering the country.

"The situation in Iran is obviously concerning. There is ongoing spread of the disease there, and a large degree of uncertainty about the scale of the outbreak and the ability to contain it."

Meanwhile, the Government has also decided not to allow any exemptions to let overseas students from China into New Zealand.

Universities requested this but the Government's priority is protecting New Zealanders, Clark said.

"Allowing thousands of students into the country from China, and guaranteeing they were safely in self-isolation, would have been incredibly difficult to implement and was not a risk the Government was prepared to take on New Zealanders' behalf."

Although there have yet to be any confirmed cases in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that it is highly likely than New Zealand will see its first infected person at some stage.

There are now 48 countries around the world with confirmed cases of Coronavirus.
According to Aljazeera, there have been almost 80,000 confirmed cases around the world.

South Korea reported 256 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the total number of infected in the country to 2,022.

Italian officials reported 650 cases as of Thursday night — up from 400 a day earlier — with 17 deaths.

New Zealand has closed it borders to Chinese travellers and officials have outlined they expect to see a "significant" economic impact as a result of the outbreak.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said New Zealand and Australia have gotten ahead of Coronavirus and have provided the "best level of preparedness" in the world when it comes to fighting the virus' spread.