A Kiwi man who tested positive for coronavirus on Friday says he is already back to feeling 100 per cent.

The man, who after returning from the United States became the sixth New Zealander to test positive, heaped praise on his "first class" treatment by officials and medical experts.

He was in high spirits when he spoke exclusively to Stuff on Saturday night, on condition of anonymity because his family feared the negative publicity which could come with a diagnosis.

"I'm 100 per cent, I'm back to normal.

"Nothing to worry about there, she's all behind us.

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"Everybody else was worried, not me."

The man, who is in his late 60s, returned from the US on Friday, March 6, on a flight from Houston to Auckland.

He had earlier been at a dinner at a New York raceway with people who had been in contact with friends of American horseman John Brennan.

Ted S Warren/AP A nurse at a drive up COVID-19 coronavirus testing station, set up by the University of Washington Medical Center, holds a bag containing a swab used to take a sample from the nose of a person in their car, Friday, March 13, 2020, in Seattle. UW Medicine is conducting drive-thru testing in a hospital parking garage and has screened hundreds of staff members, faculty and trainees for the COVID-19 coronavirus. U.S. hospitals are setting up triage tents, calling doctors out of retirement, guarding their supplies of face masks and making plans to cancel elective surgery as they brace for an expected onslaught of coronavirus patients. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

They were coughing and sneezing throughout, though Brennan himself was not in attendance.

On Wednesday, it was reported Brennan died of coronavirus aged 69, becoming the first fatality to the disease in New Jersey.

After arriving in New Zealand, the man felt fine and went to an 8.30am service on Sunday, March 8 at St Mary's church in East St, Papakura.

He was not coughing, sneezing or otherwise sick during the service, and as such believed those he came into contact with would not be at risk.

Ahn Young-joon/AP Coronavirus is spreading around the world.

By Tuesday he had fallen ill and was sneezing sometimes five times in a row.

His legs were sore enough to make standing up difficult and a fever developed, he said.

But the symptoms abated quickly and in his view the illness for him was not as bad as a case of the flu.

He arranged to be tested on Thursday and his throat was swabbed in the car park of a Papakura medical centre by a doctor wearing full medical equipment.

On Friday night the call came to say he had tested positive.

AP The man is praising Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's handling of the outbreak.

No one else had been tested in his family and his wife, who travelled with him to the United States, had no symptoms, he said.

His 14-day period of isolation continues at his home south of Auckland and he is working from home.

One of the friends of the man who died of the virus in New Jersey was well, but another was seriously ill and still waiting for his results after five days, the man said.

That five-day wait was a sharp contrast to his treatment in New Zealand, he said.

"I think they're first-class.

"Pretty sharp here, 24 hours, we had a result, whereas in America five days — the guy's as sick as a dog, he still hasn't got a result."

He believed officials in New Zealand were taking the right approach in making all visitors from overseas isolate for 14 days on arrival and suspending cruise ship visits.

"I think the Prime Minister's done a good job.

"I think it's a great idea what they're doing. Batten down the hatches, get over it and keep it contained."