Health authorities are relying on thousands of contacts of the latest Covid-19 case to get in touch with them.
The Wellington region is now in level two lockdown after an Australian man who spent the weekend in the Capital tested positive for Covid-19 after returning to Sydney.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told Checkpoint it would not be possible for contact tracers to reach out to everyone who came in contact with the man, because they do not have their details.
There are hundreds of people deemed close contacts because they were in high-risk indoor environments like an exhibition at Te Papa, and Jack Hackett's bar.
Hipkins said only those who scanned in will be contacted.
The list of locations of interest includes multiple cafes, a packed bar, Te Papa Museum, a supermarket, book store, hotel and chemist. The full list is on the Ministry of Health website.
Thousands of close contacts are now self-isolating for between five and 14 days, as well as getting tested.
The man who tested positive after returning to Sydney on Monday works at a health centre in Bondi, the epicentre of the latest community outbreak there.
Hipkins told Checkpoint it has not been confirmed yet if the case is the Delta variant of the strain.
He said a lockdown in Wellington is not necessary, as it was in Auckland in the past.
"If you look at the potential chain of transmission, providing we get on top of this quickly, providing we get people doing the right thing and isolating where they're required to isolate, we won't need to do that - we won't need to put everybody else to that significant cost.
"We can contact trace our way out of it."
