A special committee convened to deal with the crisis met daily and there had been a teleconference on disease management for all GPs in the region, she said.
‘‘We will be having another one of those this week.
‘‘We have also had a DHB-wide planning meeting with general managers and so forth to help people prepare should we get into the position that we have many cases.’’
As of yesterday New Zealand had no confirmed or suspected cases of the disease.
Dr Jack said passengers arriving at the two southern international airports would have come via Australia, where rigorous screening processes were in place.
At international sea ports, ships were obliged to notify authorities if they had sick crew or passengers aboard, and health and maritime officials were working together to ensure captains were aware of diseases protocols.
Several people in the region were in self-isolation, having been in China in recent times, Dr Jack said.
‘‘They are getting support after registering with Healthline and we are available if people need more information.
‘‘The university, who have a number of students and staff self-isolating, they are offering support to them.’’
The Ministry of Health and Southern Health websites had pages dedicated to Covid-19, which were being updated daily as new information came to hand, Dr Jack said.
