The pop-up Covid-19 testing station at Papatoetoe High School in Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton.
The pop-up Covid-19 testing station at Papatoetoe High School in Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton.
The head of the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre (NRHCC) has praised the Papatoetoe High School community for getting tested in such high volumes.
More than 27,000 people have been tested in Auckland and Northland since Sunday, when Auckland moved to alert level 3 and the rest of the country to level 2 for 72 hours.
That figure includes more than 11,000 Māori or Pacific people.
Auckland has since moved to level 2 and the rest of the country to level 1.
NRHCC lead and Counties Manukau Health chief executive Margie Apa said people can be confident that if there was any Covid in the community, it would have been detected through this intensive testing period.
"The fact that it hasn't, outside of the limited number of positive cases confirmed through close contact tracing, should reassure the public and provide comfort about the move back to alert level 2.
"I'd also like to acknowledge the outstanding effort of the Papatoetoe High School community, who have come out in large numbers to get a test."
Apa said anyone who is part of the school community, including staff, students and household members, that are yet to be tested should do so as soon as they can.
The pop-up testing centre at the school will remain open this weekend and nearby community testing centres will be operating extended hours to ensure the school community has convenient access to testing, she said.
This ranks as the region's second-busiest Covid-19 testing period on record following the peak levels set during the Auckland outbreak in August 2020.
In total, 27,412 people had been tested as of Thursday afternoon. Just over 7300 of these were Pacific people and 4023 were Māori.
Apa said it was particularly pleasing to see that just under half of all those tested were Māori or Pacific as it highlighted the success of ongoing efforts to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 testing.
She also praised the Pasifika communities of South Auckland, where the recent positive cases have been concentrated, for taking up the opportunity to be tested in large numbers.
Apa also thanked the primary care sector for its "significant contribution" to the testing volumes and the efforts of laboratory teams across the city to process so many samples in such a concentrated period.
"On Monday alone, we saw more than 11,000 tests completed following the move to level 3, demonstrating the ability of the health sector to respond quickly during periods of increased concern," she said.
"It is also important to recognise the response of the public over recent days. The health system can only test people who come forward and the figures show people have not hesitated to do so."
