The Ministry of Health have announced that additional testing stations have been added, with a full list here:
• Wellington Central, 196-200 Taranaki St. Open until 6pm and will reopen at 8am tomorrow.
• Haitaitai Park, Ruahine St. Open until 9pm and will reopen at 10am tomorrow.
• Wellington Regional Hospital, carpark by Te Hopai, off Mein St. Open 1pm-6pm and will reopen at 8am tomorrow.
• Porirua, 178 Bedford St. Open until 9pm tonight and reopen at 8am tomorrow.
• Johnsonville, 24 Moorefield Rd. Open until 4.30pm and will reopen at 9.30am tomorrow.
• Upper Hutt, Heretaunga Christian Centre, 51 Lane St. Open until 4.30pm.
• Lower Hutt, 729 High St. Open until 4pm and will reopen at 9am tomorrow.
• Kāpiti, Coastlands Shoppingtown. Open 1pm-5pm and will reopen at 12.30pm tomorrow.
• Karori, 11 Parkvale Rd. Open 1pm-5pm and will reopen at 1pm tomorrow.
• Wairarapa, located at various medical centres. Open standard business hours, and after-hour testing is provided at Masterton Medical Centre, 4 Colombo Rd.
Currently, Healthline reports that callers may face a 20-minute delay on calls and they have put additional staff on to take these calls.
Wellington moved into alert level 2 at 6pm yesterday - after a Covid-19 positive man from Sydney visited a spate of locations in the capital between Saturday and Monday, unaware he had the virus.
He is one of 37 people who are now confirmed with locally acquired cases in Sydney, as the Australian city grapples with an outbreak of the contagious Delta strain that is on the verge of getting out of control.
Deputy director of public health Dr Niki Stefanogiannis said community testing centres (CTCs) in Porirua, Wellington, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt experienced increased demand for testing yesterday and this was expected today as well.
As far as they are aware, she said no one who is symptomatic or who has been to a location of interest has been turned away from a CTC.
"CTC capacity fluctuates, as they are resourced and staffed to meet demand – which also fluctuates. Similarly, they are not able to provide the average amount of time that people presenting to a CTC will wait to get tested as wait times fluctuate with demand."
She said people arriving without an appointment may experience long wait times as CTCs need to prioritise those who have appointments, or are known to have been to a location of interest or who are symptomatic.
COVID LATEST
* The events affected by Wellington's Covid-19 scare
* Te Papa unsure if it will have enough staff to reopen after Sydney Covid case
* Watch: 'Damn noise' - Covid alert interrupts MPs in the House
* Wellington locations of interest released
* More than 30 transtasman flights cancelled
* Kiwis in Sydney face uncertainty over when they can come home
* Sydney records 16 new community infections, tightens restrictions
* Three reasons the Delta variant is a bigger threat
Four others with the Australian couple over the weekend - two from Palmerston North and two from Tauranga - have all tested negative for Covid and are isolating in their homes.
The 58 passengers on board the inbound flight, who were all considered close contacts, had been tracked down by New Zealand authorities, while those on the return flight to Sydney were being traced by New South Wales health officials.
Meanwhile, testing stations around the capital were swamped yesterday as it was revealed the man had visited popular tourist attraction Te Papa, which had around 2500 visitors on a wet Saturday afternoon.
A number of eateries were now closed for deep cleaning and staff required to self-isolate for 14 days.
The Ministry of Health said yesterday that additional testing would be provided around the region by district health boards, which were prioritising tests for people who had been to exposure sites or displaying symptoms.
The restrictions for the Wellington region - including Wairarapa and Kāpiti Coast - would stay in place until 11.59pm on Sunday.
A spate locations of interest have been released by health authorities.
