A nurse caring for a COVID-19 patient at Wellington Regional Hospital has tested positive for the disease.
An email sent by Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) to staff confirming the infection was forwarded to Newshub on Thursday.
"Our colleague has not been at work since having symptoms, has had ongoing care from Occupational Health and this week tested positive for COVID-19," the email read.
"Our colleague last worked on 6 April, felt well at the time, and became unwell later. The Regional Public Health team is working with our colleague to trace any community contacts. Staff in direct contact have been informed and offered testing and support. No patients have been exposed."
CCDHB confirmed the case to Newshub on Friday.
"Regional Public Health is now working with them to trace any community contacts, and colleagues they have been in direct contact with have been offered testing and support," said chief executive Fionnagh Dougan.
"No patients have been exposed, and everyone our nurse is likely to have come into contact with is well."
Dougan said it wasn't yet known how the nurse contracted the disease, which has killed more than 144,000 people worldwide and nine in New Zealand.
"We are undertaking a thorough investigation to determine how this possible hospital transmission occurred."
The staff member who forwarded the email to Newshub said nurses employed by the DHB are wearing "full personal protective equipment and following all DHB guidelines".
"I hope this helps spread awareness of the highly infectious nature of the disease even amongst those well equipped and trained."
COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which spreads through respiratory droplets - which is why medical staff are kitted out in masks and face shields, to avoid breathing in droplets expelled in coughs and sneezes.
But there are growing concerns the virus could be airborne, which means it could potentially bypass such protective measures.
"On numerous cruise ships where thousands of people onboard were infected, many of the infections occurred after passengers had to isolate in their cabins even though hand hygiene was implemented," Queensland University of Technology professor Lidia Morawska wrote in an article for journal Environment International this week.
"Therefore, the ventilation system could have spread the airborne virus between the cabins... Air transmission research should be undertaken now and its likelihood as a means of spread should be taken seriously with due precautions taken now."
