Make coronavirus tests more available, sick Northland traveller urges

Health officials in the customs hall at Auckland International Airport prepare to meet returning passengers. Photo / Jason Oxenham

A Northland woman who feared she may have been exposed to Covid-19 during an overseas trip is calling for virus tests to be made more widely available.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, became ill about a week after returning from a small town in Asia.

Around the same time she learned three people in the town had been diagnosed with coronavirus.

New Zealand confirmed its second Covid-19 case yesterday, a woman who had returned from Italy.

The Northland woman's symptoms included a ''massively sore throat'', coughing, a short fever, and general flu-like symptoms.

She stayed home from that point, only going out to see her GP.

She asked her doctor for a test to see if she had coronavirus but was told she did not fit Ministry of Health criteria because she had not been to China.

The woman said she would have been happy to pay for a test but it still wasn't possible.

Last Friday the ministry's criteria were expanded to include more countries so she again contacted her GP and Healthline to request a blood test.

However, she was still deemed to be low risk and not in need of a test.

On Monday, after being ill for two weeks, her condition finally improved but she was still keen to get tested for reassurance.

It would also reassure friends who didn't want her to visit, which was understandable but hard.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson said the decision whether to test for Covid-19 was based on country and clinical criteria.

The case definition for the virus had been updated last Friday to include more countries.

Now anyone who had been to China or Iran was required to self-isolate for 14 days and register with Healthline (0800 358 5453).

Anyone who had been to Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand should self-isolate and ring Healthline if they developed ''symptoms of concern'' within 14 days of leaving the country.

Anyone who develops clinically compatible symptoms after visiting any of those countries should be considered a suspect Covid-19 case and tested, the ministry guidelines say.

The symptoms are a fever of 38C or more and acute respiratory infection with shortness of breath, coughing or a sore throat.