Auckland Airport worker tests positive to COVID-19 one day after trans-Tasman bubble opens

A border worker has tested positive for coronavirus in New Zealand, a day after the trans-Tasman bubble with Australia opened.

The staff member works at Auckland Airport, and is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today.

The worker cleans planes from "red zone" or high-risk countries carrying passengers with coronavirus.

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It is believed that is how they contracted it.

Ms Ardern said the fact the worker has tested positive after being vaccinated is a "really important opportunity to point out that the vaccine is 95 per cent effective at reducing symptomatic onset".

She said it is still possible to get COVID-19, but "it won't make you nearly as sick and less likely to get really unwell".

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The worker is not very sick and has not been hospitalised, Ms Ardern added.

The New Zealand Ministry of Health said the person is in isolation and contact tracing is underway.

"The usual protocol of isolating the case, interviewing them, and tracing their contacts and movements is underway," it said in a statement.

The case comes the day after Australia and New Zealand opened the trans-Tasman bubble, meaning people can travel between the countries without entering quarantine.

Both countries had agreed not to immediately close the border if a case was detected, and Ms Ardern reiterated this today.

She said her health minister had been in contact with their Australian counterpart, Greg Hunt, who is expected to speak this afternoon.