Covid 19 coronavirus: New South Wales authorities contact New Zealand arrivals after Auckland case

Australian health authorities are urgently contacting more than 400 people who arrived from New Zealand last week after the latest confirmed case of Covid-19 in Auckland.

New South Wales Health sent a message to 455 passengers who arrived from New Zealand on or after November 5, last Thursday.

Everyone on a flight was asked to monitor their health for the next few days and to watch for symptoms related to Covid-19, ABC News reported.

That message was of particular importance to anyone who had been to the areas where a woman in her 20s, who tested positive for the virus this week, had visited in central Auckland.

They include the AZ Collection store on High St, where the woman worked, Vincent Residences on Vincent St, where she lives, and the Red Pig restaurant, where she ate last Saturday night, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

In a statement, NSW Health said that people should watch out for even “the mildest symptoms” and get tested and isolate themselves immediately if they feel unwell.

“They are also required to remain in isolation until a negative result is received, in accordance with routine advice for all people in New South Wales.”

Although the warning has been issued, NSW Health also said the risk posed by traveling without quarantine “remains low” at this time.

Airlines here to turn away anyone who has visited the affected locations

Passengers aboard a flight that landed in Sydney from New Zealand last night also received the warning.

ABC said none of the passengers had reported being in any of the places where the last Covid case had been. No one was also showing flu-like symptoms.

It is understood that the airlines here would not allow anyone to take a flight to Australia if they had visited any of the places where the infected woman was during the last week.

People traveling from New Zealand have been able to fly to parts of Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory, under a travel bubble since Oct. 16.

Under the new travel rules, travelers arriving from this side of Tasmania do not have to comply with the mandatory 14-day quarantine period in a managed isolation facility.