New Zealand Blood Service is appealing to fit and healthy eligible Auckland residents with an O positive blood type to book an appointment to donate blood.
Seasonal high-rates of coughs, colds and influenza and the one-week stand down period after illness have resulted in significantly less donations over the winter season.
Some Blood Donor Centres around Auckland have extended their opening hours and increased their appointment slots to accommodate more donors during the next week.
Asuka Burge, National Manager Marketing and Communications for New Zealand Blood Service says, "NZBS operates on a very tight 'right donor, right time, right type, right place' policy to manage blood stock levels.
"Currently we are experiencing high numbers of regular donors being too sick to donate, which has been compounded by unusually high usage of O+ blood in hospitals. Together this has left us with particularly low levels of O positive blood.