Coronavirus: Auckland hotel guests, staff isolated and tested after new cases

Guests and staff at Auckland's Novotel Hotel are being "held there" as potential contacts after two women who were in managed isolation there were confirmed as having coronavirus.

Two Kiwi women – one in their 30s and one in her 40s – received their test results on Tuesday morning, director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield told reporters at a press conference.

The Ministry of Health said the pair recently arrived from the UK, arriving on June 7 on an Air New Zealand flight from Brisbane, before staying at the Novotel Auckland Ellerslie hotel.

Health workers can be seen standing guard outside the entrance to the hotel, in Ellerslie, screening cars as they enter and exit on Tuesday evening.

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Police were scattered around the grounds of the hotel, all wearing gloves and masks.

Some guests could be seen peering out of their windows, but no-one was coming in or out.

About a quarter of the room's lights were on and most curtains were drawn when Stuff visited the five-storey hotel on Tuesday evening, which sits alongside the Southern Motorway.

One woman could be seen bouncing a baby through her window.

The pair who tested positive left the hotel to travel to Wellington in a private vehicle on June 13 for a funeral, on compassionate grounds.

One of the women has been experiencing symptoms, while the other was symptom-free.

They were not tested before leaving the Novotel hotel facility, Bloomfield confirmed.

The new cases break New Zealand's 24-day coronavirus-free streak.

All people at the hotel – those who are or were in managed isolation at the same facility, and staff – were being tested for coronavirus.

"Everybody currently in the facility is being held within the facility and would be tested," Bloomfield said.

Staff at the isolation facility who had close contact during the period the women were there will be stood down and tested.

Mobile swabbing teams had already been sent to the hotel.

Anyone who had been at the hotel and may have left since June 7 would be followed up with by the national contact tracing service, Bloomfield said.

Since June 8, all travellers who arrived in the country were tested for Covid-19 at their respective facilities.

People granted compassionate travel exemption will now be required to test negative for Covid-19 before leaving managed isolation, Bloomfield announced on Tuesday.

The pair, from the same family, were now self-isolating in Wellington.

Accor Group – which operates the Novotel chain – directed media queries to Auckland Council, who referred questions to the Ministry of Health.