NEW Zealand, Lithuania and Belarus today confirmed their first cases of Covid-19.

In New Zealand, the patient is a recent arrival from Iran who travelled to Auckland via Bali.

Health officials said the individual, who is in their 60s, is being treated at Auckland City Hospital.

“They are improving in isolation, in a negative-pressure room to prevent the spread of the disease,” said the Health Department in a statement.

Officials said the patient, reportedly a female New Zealand national, arrived in Auckland on Wednesday, and family members went to the hospital after becoming concerned about the person’s condition.

Passengers on Wednesday’s final leg of the Emirates journey, from Bali to Auckland, are urged to contact authorities if they are worried.

However, authorities downplayed the risk to the public, saying the situation is being managed well.

“Although we have our first case of Covid-19, the chances of a community outbreak remain low,” said the statement.

Earlier, Health Minister David Clark said New Zealand will introduce a strict travel ban on arrivals from Iran, similar to that already imposed on arrivals from China, the source of the virus.

He said the action is being taken after a spike in infections in Iran, where the virus has killed 26 people, the highest death toll outside China, and because of the unreliable information coming out of the Islamic republic.

“Obviously, the situation in Iran is concerning. There is an ongoing spread of the disease there, and a large degree of uncertainty about the scale of the outbreak and the ability to contain it,” he told reporters.

“The information that’s coming out of Iran appears to be out of step with what’s coming out of other countries in terms of the death rate per incidence.”

Lithuania, meanwhile, confirmed its first case of infection in a woman who returned from Italy.

The 39-year-old, who came back from Verona, has been isolated at a hospital in the Baltic state’s northern city of Siauliai, and is showing mild symptoms. Her family members are being monitored.

Belarus said its first case is an Iranian student who arrived in the country from Azerbaijan last week.

The Health Ministry said the patient is in a “satisfactory” condition.

People the student had been in contact with since their arrival on Saturday have been placed in quarantine at the hospital for infectious diseases in the capital, Minsk, said the ministry.

It added that health checks will be carried out on anyone arriving from Italy – the worst-affected country in Europe – as well as Iran and South Korea.

Travellers from China are already subjected to such controls. – AFP, February 28, 2020.