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Covid-19: Testing focus on four Auckland areas with 'higher positivity rate'

Wednesday, 20 October 2021

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says people should prepare themselves for increasing numbers of daily cases.

With the Delta outbreak impacting all corners of Auckland, Covid-19 testing will shift from a “suburb of interest” approach to focusing on areas with a “higher positivity rate”.

The four areas named include Redvale on the North Shore, where a party was held over the weekend.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced the shift and the areas at Wednesday’s media stand-up.

Bloomfield said as the outbreak was more disbursed, testing would now concentrate on areas where “the risk of unidentified cases is higher”.

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Residents of New Lynn, Rosedale, Redvale and Bayswater are asked to get tested, even if they have only mild symptoms.
Residents of New Lynn, Rosedale, Redvale and Bayswater are asked to get tested, even if they have only mild symptoms.

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People in Auckland's western and northern suburbs of New Lynn, Rosedale, Redvale and Bayswater are asked to get tested even if they have mild symptoms, and regardless of their vaccination status.

A media release by the Ministry of Health said the testing would help identify any undetected spread of Covid-19 in the communities as quickly as possible.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged North Shore residents to get tested if they are unwell over concerns of growing case numbers in the area.

Over the weekend, a party in the North Shore suburb of Redvale – one of the areas of risk – that breached lockdown gathering rules angered Aucklanders.

However, Bloomfield said there was nothing at this stage to suggest that the party was a super-spreader event, and added that the party being held in one of the four areas of focus was a “coincidence”.

He said focused testing in some North Shore suburbs was due to these areas returning positive tests at a rate higher than 1 per cent.

Testing locations in the high risk areas: