New Zealand / Covid 19

Covid-19 updates from New Zealand and the world on 25 August

19:23 pm on 25 August 2020

Health Minister Chris Hipkins is urging people to continue to get tested, saying the latest cluster is not completely identified yet.

At today's Covid-19 briefing, Hipkins said District Health Boards were reporting signs of testing fatigue from the public, with test numbers falling below 5000 for the past two days.

He said the ministry was planning a drive to get 70,000 tests done over the next seven days.

Read back through the live coverage for 25 August:

Hipkins said nearly a quarter of all the testing done for Covid-19 this year had taken place in the past two weeks, but numbers had fallen off again recently.

He warns that the latest cluster is not completely identified yet.

"There are still some gaps in the jigsaw," says Hipkins, and the government's message is "please don't relax now".

South Auckland communities will be a specific target of community testing in the new push for widespread testing, he says, with 70 percent of these tests to be in Auckland.

Six more mobile testing units to be added in the area. The units will be active for two to three days at a time before moving to a different location, he says.

"It's challenging to keep up this pace but it is doable."

"Please play your part by getting a test."

Hipkins says they've been working closely with Māori and Pasifika health professionals and Dr Bloomfield says many staff in pop-up locations are explicitly Māori and Pasifika.

He says this will allow people to speak in their first language if necessary, however Dr Bloomfield says he cannot guarantee there will be Māori and Pasifika at testing sites.