Health officials say there are no cases of coronavirus in Queenstown, after earlier reports there may have been a case at a hotel in the tourist hotspot.
The Ministry of Health said it had received unconfirmed reports there was a person with the illness staying at the Rees Hotel.
"Southern DHB is aware and enquiries into this are continuing," a ministry spokesperson told Newshub.
However, the hotel said the "rumours" were not true.
"Please note that these rumours are unfounded and untrue and there has been no outbreak of the virus in New Zealand," a post on the hotel's Facebook page said on Monday night.
Later on Tuesday morning, The Ministry of Health said the Southern DHB was not actively investigating any cases of the virus.
"Currently there are no cases of coronavirus in the Southern DHB area," a ministry spokesperson said.
It comes as Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult urged Kiwis to continue welcoming and supporting overseas tourists.
"The last thing we want is any xenophobic behaviour," he told Newshub on Monday. "Saying we're going to stop folk coming here is just plain silly and it's not going to happen."
Boult said the tourist hotspot of Queenstown had been preparing for a case of coronavirus.
"We wouldn't be doing the right thing if we didn't have some preparedness around it," he said.
