New Zealand has eight confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Two new cases were confirmed by health officials on Sunday.

The man in his 60s visiting from Australia, who was tested in Australia prior to flying to New Zealand, is now symptom-free but is in self isolation with two family members. All are well. The other case is a woman in her 30s who travelled from Denmark to Queenstown.

In both instances, public health staff are conducting contact tracing from flights and requesting close contacts stay in self isolation for 14 days from the date of potential exposure.

In Australia, a state of emergency has been declared in Victoria and Canberra to deal with the spread of coronavirus.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the state of emergency would begin on Monday, 16 March at midday and be in force for the next four weeks to assist with measures designed to ‘flatten the curve’ of COVID-19.

Canberra’s decision comes after it confirmed its second case of coronavirus. The first case was reported last week by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr.

As of 16 March 2020, there have been 298 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. Of the 298 confirmed cases in Australia, 27 have recovered and five have died from COVID-19.

Across the world there have been more than 162,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 6300 deaths.

On 30 January 2020, WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

The Global BioRisk Advisory Council (GBAC), a division of ISSA has published three tip sheets for cleaning and restoration professionals addressing COVID-19.

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