Covid 19 coronavirus: Confirmed case in the community in Christchurch - so what next?

The Sudima Christchurch Airport hotel. Photo / Kurt Bayer

With a new case of Covid-19 in the community, this time in Christchurch, there are now questions surrounding what next for the city.

But experts say it is still too early to think about whether a shift in alert levels is now warranted; after a person working at a managed isolation facility tested positive for the virus yesterday.

Epidemiologist Dr Michael Baker said although there was still a risk that this one case could be the start of a chain of cases, or possibly a cluster, the information released so far indicated good news.

"Just from the information that we have now, we can be quite optimistic as this person sought (help) straight away."

He acknowledged how this would be familiar territory for New Zealanders, as this would be the sixth failure at our border.

"I think for New Zealand, this is basically a huge shift. During the pandemic, we learned you can stop it at the border and you can stamp it out.

"The universal advice, especially concerning people in Christchurch, is to just pay particular attention on your symptoms.

"Just be very disciplined about staying home and looking after yourself."

One expert, however, was more critical of the Government - and said it needed to "up its game".

Professor of public health, Nick Wilson, said there needed to be an urgent review as there appeared to be failures at the border and managed isolation still.

"We've had a nurse infected, a maintenance worker, a port worker. These are system failures because we should be stopping all cases at the border.

The Sudima Christchurch Airport hotel (above), where a person working there yesterday tested positive for Covid-19. Photo / Kurt Bayer

"Basically we're having border control failures every two weeks and we could end up with another Auckland August outbreak if we don't improve."

Infectious disease expert, Professor David Hayman, said he could imagine it would be a stressful time for some in Christchurch and that this would be a test case for the city.

But that meant amping up the measures we are all so familiar with now - washing hands, using the contact-tracing Covid-19 app and to social distance, for example.

"Do the basics. Time and time again, that's the advice - to keep taking it seriously, as we want to stamp this out as soon as possible."

News of the confirmed case broke about 8pm yesterday, when the Ministry of Health said a person working at the Sudima Christchurch Airport had tested positive after getting symptoms over the weekend.

The worker is said to have returned a negative test last Thursday but sought another test on Sunday when they developed symptoms on Saturday.

Chief operation officer at Sudima Hotels, Les Morgan, told the Herald last night that the person involved was a "non-hotel staff member", however.

Health officials also confirmed that the confirmed case is now isolating at home.

Asked why the person was not in a quarantine facility, a Ministry of Health spokeswoman said this morning that a full update on the situation would be given at 1pm.

A tragedy in the western world

Baker said he continued to be shocked at the fact that the western world, in general, had not been able to control Covid-19 the way that New Zealand has done so.

"(Our system) is working. I think it's just a tragedy that other western countries don't follow that approach," he said.

"New Zealand is getting on with life and our economy is recovering."

Hayman said he was "enormously proud" of how New Zealand has handled Covid-19 and, as a British immigrant, could only watch was happening overseas with frustration.

"It's frustrating because it seems like they haven't learned," he said, referring to those in the US and the UK, in particular.

"They haven't done what New Zealand has done.

"I don't think it's a disaster (here). I think New Zealand has prepared."

- additional reporting: Radio New Zealand