Govt ‘alert but not alarmed’

The Government is taking a ‘‘precautionary’’ approach to the coronavirus outbreak and reviewing its response.

Health Minister David Clark said he was preparing a Cabinet paper to ensure it was formally identified as a notifiable disease.

Although no cases had been identified in New Zealand, a ‘‘pandemic response’’ had been triggered to ensure the country was prepared. ‘‘It is fair to characterise our response at this stage as alert but not alarmed,’’ he said.

The Ministry of Health had established an incident management team and today a technical advisory group would peer review what the ministry was doing and provide further advice, Clark said. It would also convene an inter-agency pandemic group that would discuss how to trigger further action, if it was required.

His comments come after the Government was warned not to cross its fingers and just hope the deadly coronavirus does not arrive here. The viral illness has so far infected more than 400 people and killed at least 17 people, mainly in China.

The National Party has urged the Government to take more proactive steps to ensure the outbreak does not spread here, while an infectious disease expert says New Zealand should now be taking a ‘‘very precautionary approach’’. This week the ministry confirmed it was following recommendations by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and no screening precautions had been put in place.

The WHO was expected to decide today whether the outbreak should be declared a global emergency and the Government was waiting on that decision, Clark said. He had asked the director-general of health to prepare to strengthen border activities in line with any recommendations that might come out of the WHO meeting.

In the meantime, the ministry was closely monitoring developments and working with international partners, so it could advise the health sector and border control, Clark said.

It had established communication pathways for any suspected cases, so they could be followed up on quickly.

The Government would make more resources available if they were needed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was also on standby to assist Kiwis in China, he said.

National MP Michael Woodhouse said the current Government approach seemed to be ‘‘crossing their fingers and hoping that it does not arrive’’.

Otago University professor of public health Michael Baker said the Ministry of Health should be taking more precautions. Baker said it was a fast moving epidemic and data coming from China was outdated, which was worrying.

‘‘We cannot be reassured by any numbers we see this point. They tell us what happened a while ago ... It might be weeks before we know the full picture about how infectious and dangerous it is.’’

There were people coming to New Zealand from Wuhan via other airports and now was the time for New Zealand to act and not just ‘‘hope for the best’’, Baker said.