Medical staff from Canterbury are heading to the West Coast to help after 21 health workers from Greymouth's hospital had to go into isolation.
They had been treating the 70-year-old woman who yesterday became the country's first Covid-19 fatality.
The woman was initially misdiagnosed as having the flu so those who treated her did not wear the full Covid-19 protective gear.
RNZ health correspondent Rowan Quinn speaks to Susie Ferguson.
