August 26, 2021
Testing saturation needed to rein in delta
Tāmaki Makaurau health authorities are casting the net wide as it tries to pin down how far the Covid outbreak has spread.
Counties Manukau District Health Board chief executive Margie Apa says more than 150,000 tests have been conducted since last Wednesday, more than one in five of them from Pasifika people and with Māori also lining up in large numbers.
She says delta is different to earlier outbreaks, with a lot more people considered to be close contacts.
"We are deliberately casting the net wide because we know delta is so insidious, it spreads in places we don't know so we want to be really cautious and make a whole lot more people contacts and then make sure we saturate our city with testing," Ms Apa says.
Counties Manukau DHB has opened a drive through vaccination centre at Auckland Airport, and it is also allowing walk in capacity for Māori and Pasifika to get vaccinated at other centres.
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