COVID-19 Sentinel Community Testing Undertaken In Auckland

A total of 300 people have provided swabs for COVID-19 testing at two sentinel community testing locations in Auckland today.

Testing was undertaken in Mangere and Henderson, with 150 swabs taken from members of the public who volunteered for testing at each location.

Waitemata DHB CEO and COVID-19 regional lead Dr Dale Bramley said data from the additional testing would assist national decision-making on the management of the pandemic.

“It is important to identify any unconfirmed positive cases in our communities and to have as much information as possible on potential community transmission,” Dr Bramley said.

“Across New Zealand, around one per cent of overall tests to date have produced a positive result. The data gathered at the two locations across Auckland today will feed into the national data pool and further enrich our understanding of community prevalence.”

Dr Bramley thanked members of the public for embracing the opportunity for sentinel community testing and the staff who performed the swabbing.

Swabs will now be subject to laboratory testing, with results communicated to those tested within the next 48 hours.

The Northland and metro Auckland DHBs (Counties Manukau, Waitematā and Auckland DHBs) are operating a regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre (NRHCC).

© Scoop Media