Covid 19 coronavirus: No cases in Hawke's Bay, but 13 new cases in Auckland

Line of drivers wait for testing at CBAC, The Doctors, Napier for Covid -19 testing in June. Photo / Warren Buckland

Hawke's Bay has tested nearly 1000 people for Covid-19 but the region has no confirmed cases of the virus so far, even as it spreads in Auckland.

As of Sunday, New Zealand had 1271 confirmed Covid-19 cases. Of the 49 cases in the current, largely Auckland, community outbreak, all but three are linked.

In Hawke's Bay on Wednesday, 313 people were tested for Covid-19 and on Thursday more than 500 people were tested in the region.

Testing centres in Hawke's Bay were only testing symptomatic people.

On Thursday, Hawke's Bay DHB medical officer Nick Jones said people in Hawke's Bay with cold and flu-like symptoms were being proactive and calling the testing stations to make an appointment to get tested.

Symptoms of Covid-19 include cold or flu-like illness with one or more of the following: a fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, a runny nose or loss of smell.

The DHB reactivated its Emergency Operations Centre on Wednesday.

Planning and processes were well in place to manage any outbreak should there be one in Hawke's Bay, Jones said.

Staff were doing their best to manage the testing demand and Jones reminded the public to be kind and respectful as staff worked to manage calls and appointments.

On Sunday, Health Minister Chris Hipkins said testing levels were "unprecedented" - 23,682 tests were processed yesterday, and a total of 63,231 had been processed across the past three days - which was an "exceptional effort".

He said the system was working at "top speed" and "that should give us confidence".

Processing was being slowed down though because of the huge volume of testing.