The Wellington bar the Australian Covid case visited over the weekend is the "biggest concern”, epidemiologist Michael Baker says.
The recently confirmed case travelled from Sydney to the capital and back again over the weekend.
The person arrived just after midnight on Saturday before flying back to Sydney on Monday morning, NSW Health confirmed yesterday evening. They subsequently tested positive in New South Wales.
Health authorities believe the man contracted the virus in Sydney where the highly-infectious Delta variant is circulating, before flying across the Tasman.
Fourteen locations of interest in Wellington have been formally identified so far by the Ministry of Health, which includes the Irish pub — Jack Hackett's.
"This is a notorious environment for transmission of the virus quite rapidly but the big unknown is was this case highly infectious while they were in that bar and that makes all the difference," Baker told 1 NEWS.
It's since been revealed the man visited popular Cuba St restaurant Floriditas on Saturday afternoon.
He said the "big worry" was how infectious the man was while he was in Wellington with his partner.
As a result, Baker thought the alert level in the capital should be raised to "something closer to level 2", which would see mask use increased and restrictions on social gatherings.
Baker says the most risky location of interest the Australian case visited is Jack Hackett’s bar, but is confident authorities can manage the situation.
Health authorities are weighing this up .
Baker felt moving to Alert Level 3 was "premature" as it would take a "little while" before the country possibly saw more cases come out of the man's visit.
He said the results of genome sequencing and test results of the man's four close contacts would be helpful in determining where authorities headed with their response.
"That will give us an idea as to the risk ... to other people."
Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles meanwhile says the country has to brace for more cases.
On Twitter, she advised people to wear masks in case the man was infectious while in Wellington.
"In Sydney they've had transmission from people sharing the same air space in a mall so what have we got to lose?"
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