Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says extracting Kiwis from Wuhan, where the coronavirus originated, will be "very difficult".

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) has confirmed it is exploring evacuation options, including assisted departure by the Defence Force.

Ardern confirmed there were 53 New Zealanders registered as being in Wuhan on SafeTravel and about 20 of them had sought assistance. Officials were not aware of any Kiwis showing the flu-like symptom, she said.

Evacuating Kiwis was not a simple, straightforward exercise with the militarily enforced lockdowns but the Government was having ongoing conversations, she said.

Chinese officials had made clear that it would be "very difficult" to extract New Zealanders from the province – even if they were healthy, she said.

This was because of the restricted measures that had been put in place, she said.

No decisions had been made by New Zealand's consular partners in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom to deploy charter or military assets to evacuate their citizens, she said.

She would be keeping in close contact and had scheduled a call with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who called her during her Post Cabinet press conference. 

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The US Department of State was making arrangements to relocate personnel stationed in Wuhan but New Zealand had no officials working there, she said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peters said the Chinese government has put in place a total embargo on all travel in areas deemed to be high risk.

"If transportation of individuals poses no risk to New Zealand we will consider that as well."

"This is a far more complex issue than people are led to believe, and we are forced to work within the confines of such complexities alongside all other countries."

EXPLORING EVACUATION OPTIONS

Following the prime minister's comments, a spokeswoman for Mfat said it was a challenging situation, with many issues to be worked through logistically, and with the Chinese authorities. 

It had received a small number of requests for consular assistance from New Zealanders in Wuhan City and Hubei Province.

The ministry continued to work closely with its four China Posts, Chinese authorities and consular partner countries regarding how best to assist New Zealanders impacted by outbreak of the Coronavirus. 

"Mfat is actively exploring evacuation options in consultation with our partners. Options include the possibility of places being made available for New Zealanders on charter flights leaving Wuhan, or assisted departure by NZDF which is more complex. The US is the only partner country as this stage to deploy charter or military assets to assist US citizens."

The New Zealand Embassy in Beijing was closed over Chinese New Year. However, embassy and consulate staff remained on duty working throughout the holiday period, in order to respond to the coronavirus, she said.

The embassy would reopen to the public on Wednesday.

GOVERNMENT CRITICISED

Earlier, National Party leader Simon Bridges criticised the Government for leaving Kiwis stranded in Wuhan.

The Government needed to follow the actions of other countries, stop sitting on its hands and bring home New Zealanders, he said.

RNZ has reported a New Zealand citizen trapped at the epicentre of China's coronavirus outbreak was pleading with the Government to do more to get New Zealanders out.

"A responsible Government would be looking after its people. Countries around the world are evacuating their citizens and putting them in quarantine for 14 days," Bridges said.

DEATHS INCREASE

The total number of coronavirus deaths has climbed to 106, China's National Health Commission said on Tuesday.

The number of confirmed cases in mainland China soared to 4515, from 2744 on Monday. One hundred of the fatalities have occurred in Hubei, the province where the city of Wuhan is located.

Cases of infection have been reported throughout Asia and Australia, as well as in the US, France and Canada. Germany has also confirmed its first case.

On Monday health officials confirmed there was a "high likelihood" of coronavirus reaching New Zealand, with a moderate chance that it will be spread when it arrives.

CORONAVIRUS OFFICIALLY NOTIFIABLE

New Zealand was remaining vigilant, Health Minister David Clark said, while announcing coronavirus was officially notifiable from January 30.

The status makes it compulsory for every case of the disease to be "notified", which means that any case discovered by health practitioners must be reported to Government health officials.

It gives the medical officers of health the power to quarantine people suspected of infection, issue restrictions on movement and travel and apply for court orders such as for treatment.

From Tuesday, the ministry's National Health Coordination Centre had been activated with trained staff to help the sector respond.

If a case did show up, the county was prepared, Clark said.

About 2000 people fly into New Zealand from China a day and on Monday public health officials had checked five flights in Auckland (1262 passengers) and one in Christchurch (288 passengers) and none had symptoms, Clark said.

The ministry was considering expanding that search to flights inbound from Australia.

On Tuesday, director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the updated assessed risk of a community outbreak was still low. 

New Zealand had sent samples away to Australia to test for infection of the deadly coronavirus but New Zealand-based testing was expected by the end of this week.

SCHOOLS URGED TO DELAY THE START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR

New Zealand  school principals to "err on the side of caution" and urged to delay the start of the school year for staff or students who have recently been to China.

Children and young people were currently returning to classrooms and the health of students and staff was a priority, Education Secretary for the Ministry of Education Iona Holsted said.  

Official advice for principals included a list of steps to take that advised keeping students away from school if they had been in China.

UNIVERSITY ENROLMENTS

In Christchurch, the University of Canterbury (UC) is expecting "several hundred" new Chinese students to enrol in person between February 11 to 13.

"UC is exploring options for late enrolments for students from China whose travel has been disrupted and if the situation changes, we have contingency plans in place to activate if required," a spokeswoman said.

The university had also convened a strategic response group, and advised staff and students planning to travel to China to reassess whether their travel was essential.

"We have commended an awareness campaign and we are sharing information with our staff and students, including what to do for anyone who has respiratory symptoms and fever, and who has arrived from China in the last month."

BAY OF PLENTY DEATH AFTER CHINA VISIT

Meanwhile, the health service in the Bay of Plenty is testing to check if an unexpected death after a visit to China was related to coronavirus but it is thought to be "very unlikely" .

NO CORONAVIRUS IN QUEENSTOWN

Health officials say there are no cases of coronavirus in Queenstown, despite rumours gaining traction in the South Island tourist hot spot.