Jacinda Ardern visited the Healthline call centre on Saturday after the first confirmed case of coronavirus in NZ.

A mass mobilisation of 'vulnerable' people to an isolated region or island to restrict the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus was among the options being considered by the Government, a leading epidemiologist says.

University of Otago professor Michael Baker said now was the time to consider "innovative approaches" after the first Covid-19 case was detected in New Zealand.

Moving large numbers of older New Zealanders, or those susceptible to respiratory illness, to an isolated region or island to see out the winter could save thousands of lives, Baker said.

Known as protective sequestration, the move would require an enormous logistical effort to commandeer housing stock, and identify and uproot vulnerable people from their homes and move them into isolated areas.

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Baker, a member of the Ministry of Health's Pandemic Influenza Technical Advisory Group, conceded the approach sounded extreme.

Emanuele Cremaschi/ GETTY IMAGES Mass mobilisation of vulnerable people is not being considered by officials.

But he said a strong social cohesion, and faith in Government, meant New Zealand was better placed than most countries to enact such a policy.

"I know the Government will be thinking about a whole suite of options, and I know this will be on the menu.

"There will be many models for how to do this, some of them would be more disruptive than others.

"Let's have that conversation now, if people dismiss it as impractical, OK, but let's have the conversation."

​On Saturday, Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said mass mobilisation of vulnerable people was not being "actively considered".

DAVID WHITE/STUFF Travellers wearing face masks exit the arrivals hall at Auckland International Airport.

"The Ministry continues to consider a range of options as part of it's ongoing planning, guided by our comprehensive Influenza Pandemic Plan."

Protective sequestration was effective in countering the 1917-18 influenza epidemic, which killed millions of people around the world, said Baker.

"It's eminently doable, it just requires a major policy stance. You have to start it now because if you wait until you have community transmission it's too late."

The approach was already being used in Samoa, which has only just brought a measles outbreak under control that killed 83 people.

CHRIS MCKEEN/STUFF Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minster of Health David Clark visit the Healthline call centre in Auckland on Saturday.

"Samoa has lifted up the drawbridge and it's saying 'we do not want this virus here under any circumstance'."

He says New Zealand is renowned internationally for being exceptionally good at responding to disasters.

"We've learnt that it's about resilience, and it's about that huge social capital, the strength to innovate, and a high degree of social connectedness and social conscience."

On Friday, a New Zealand citizen in their 60s who had been to Iran and flown back to New Zealand via Bali tested positive for the virus. The person remained in a stable and improving condition in Auckland Hospital on Saturday.

Authorities are now scrambling to track down people who may have come into contact with the patient.

Supplied Professor Michael Baker from the University of Otago, Wellington, says it's time to consider extreme measures to counter coronavirus.

The continuing rise in confirmed cases and deaths worldwide shows the outbreak is on a firm trajectory to become a global pandemic, Baker said.

New Zealanders should have confidence that the country is well placed to handle a pandemic, he added, and people shouldn't be spooked by the effect it's having on share prices.

"The stockmarket has very little to do with human health and is driven by the forces of greed and fear, and those are the two forces we shouldn't be listening to.

"We should think about New Zealand's economic wellbeing.

"And it's definitely not the time to be raiding the supermarket for bottles water. I find that insane."