COVID-19

Testing for COVID-19

Information on lab testing and capacity and testing rates by ethnicity and DHB.

Last updated 1pm 19 February 2021.

All data on this page is as at 9:00am 19 February 2021 unless otherwise stated.

Change to the updating schedule for this page

Data on this page is now updated daily.

Data is collected from the EpiSurv database (administered by ESR) unless otherwise stated.

On this page:

See also:

Testing summary, status, and results

COVID-19 viral testing
People tested Test results delivered in past 24 hours Test results delivered during past week
People who travelled internationally 1342 7620
People working at the border, in managed facilities, or near people travelling internationally 1052 6879
Within New Zealand, not linked to the border 8371 46996
Other 68 405
Total 10833 61900
COVID-19 testing status
  Total
All COVID-19 viral tests administered* 1,640,686
Testing kits in stock (updated Mon-Fri only) 212,309

* Covers the period from 22 January 2020 (first test in New Zealand) to 19 February 2021. Note that some people are tested more than once.

Testing results from 22 January 2020* to 19 February 2021
Test results In managed facilities Within NZ communities Total
Tested positive for COVID-19 790 1928 2718
Tested negative (no COVID-19) 191354 1446363 1637717
Inconclusive result for COVID-19 4 247 251
Total (all tests) 192148 1448538 1640686

* First test for COVID-19 in New Zealand was on 22 January 2020. Note that some people are tested more than once.

Number of tests for COVID-19
Daily number of tests completed for COVID-19 (with seven-day rolling average)

Testing over the past 4 weeks

Tests at managed facilities and within the community in district health boards (DHBs)
DHB of Patient Domicile 18 Jan to 24 Jan 25 Jan to 31 Jan 1 Feb to 7 Feb 8 Feb to 14 Feb
Managed isolation and quarantine facilities 7518 7630 7249 7328
Auckland 2676 5380 3259 3132
Bay of Plenty 581 1101 785 765
Canterbury 2009 2485 2112 1967
Capital and Coast 826 1178 991 899
Counties Manukau 3091 5104 3417 3687
Hawkes Bay 230 362 370 322
Hutt Valley 263 390 313 257
Lakes 260 481 325 351
MidCentral 405 593 530 395
Nelson Marlborough 354 462 454 369
Northland 285 4434 433 418
South Canterbury 114 140 117 132
Southern 729 1115 786 882
Tairāwhiti 135 143 119 132
Taranaki 177 422 284 223
Waikato 809 1598 1038 1138
Wairarapa 72 102 78 91
Waitematā 2465 10446 3486 3182
West Coast 34 60 36 29
Whanganui 85 118 110 72
Unknown 1037 1635 1317 1282
Total 24155 45379 27609 27053

Note: some people are tested more than once. We cannot give you detailed information about tests in your district, city or town, as we must protect the privacy of the people concerned.

Tests by ethnicity
Ethnicity 18 Jan to 24 Jan 25 Jan to 31 Jan 1 Feb to 7 Feb 8 Feb to 14 Feb
Maori 2253 5694 2710 2847
Pacific peoples 2444 3880 2873 2948
Asian 4118 7527 4790 4552
European/Other 11698 24099 13411 12701
Unknown 3642 4179 3825 4005
Total 24155 45379 27609 27053

Testing rate and results by location and ethnicity

All tests by DHB and in managed isolation and quarantine facilities from 22 January 2020 to 19 February 2021
Location Total tests Tested positive (%) Test rate per 1000 people
Managed isolation and quarantine facilities 192148 0.41% NA
Auckland 209188 0.15% 373.22
Bay of Plenty 57405 0.08% 234.73
Canterbury 124354 0.12% 213.44
Capital and Coast 82473 0.16% 253.52
Counties Manukau 262178 0.09% 452.15
Hawkes Bay 33665 0.14% 200.52
Hutt Valley 30333 0.08% 199.78
Lakes 30904 0.04% 276.76
MidCentral 37300 0.1% 204.26
Nelson Marlborough 30034 0.11% 196.32
Northland 41094 0.09% 223.39
South Canterbury 10428 0.21% 173.35
Southern 68963 0.39% 204.56
Tairāwhiti 11786 0.04% 238.45
Taranaki 24311 0.05% 199.77
Waikato 103008 0.2% 240.07
Wairarapa 8645 0.05% 187.44
Waitematā 230555 0.13% 357.48
West Coast 3115 0.16% 97.52
Whanganui 11773 0.03% 180.97
Unknown 37026 0.13% NA
Total 1640686 0.17% 280.66
Tests by ethnicity from 22 January 2020 to 19 February 2021
Ethnicity* Total test Tested positive (%) Test rate per 1000 people
Māori 233332 0.09% 294.86
Pacific peoples 191165 0.11% 587.49
Asian 238004 0.17% 296.67
European/Other 881621 0.19% 283.45
Unknown 96564 0.25% NA
Total 1640686 0.17% 307.02

* The prioritised ethnicity classification system is used in this table and below. This means each person is allocated to a single ethnic group, based on the ethnic groups they identify with. Where people identify with more than one group, they are assigned in this order of priority: Māori, Pacific Peoples, Asian, and European/Other. So, if a person identifies as being Māori and New Zealand European, the person is counted as Māori. See Ngā tapuae me ngā raraunga: Methods and data sources for further information.

The data categorized by ethnicity come from National Health Index (NHI) data collection, linked to data held in the EpiSurv database.

Testing rates per 1000 people by location and ethnicity from 22 January 2020 to 19 February 2021
Location Māori Pacific peoples Asian European/Other
Auckland 400.83 546.15 266.79 405.19
Bay of Plenty 254.49 460.97 164.62 229.18
Canterbury 207.88 277.97 199.55 212.01
Capital and Coast 251.91 299.23 171.69 265.31
Counties Manukau 447.9 751.94 348.34 352.41
Hawke's Bay 202.11 424.71 133.98 190.9
Hutt Valley 194.94 250.23 167.08 200.49
Lakes 293.98 429.6 261.63 257.91
MidCentral 196.92 261.7 132.41 210.62
Nelson Marlborough 203.71 461.08 147.62 191.69
Northland 249.33 243.71 167.35 211.19
South Canterbury 173.35 495.85 174.21 169.54
Southern 187.04 299.58 155.84 208
Tairāwhiti 256.41 322.05 242.81 212.03
Taranaki 198.39 286.46 199.44 197.09
Waikato 267.54 329.63 207.26 225.89
Wairarapa 197.41 316.39 203.52 179.96
Waitematā 371.67 535.47 288.72 358.58
West Coast 89.69 200.53 137.58 95.71
Whanganui 176.82 239.78 133.33 182.89
Total 277.24 549.72 254.62 257.43

Note: some people are tested more than once. We cannot give you detailed information about tests in your district, city or town, as we must protect the privacy of the people concerned.

Percentage of tests returning a positive result by DHB and ethnicity from 22 January to 19 February 2021
Location Māori Pacific peoples Asian European/Other
Auckland 0.07 0.19 0.12 0.15
Bay of Plenty 0.04 0 0.15 0.1
Canterbury 0.05 0.2 0.09 0.12
Capital and Coast 0.04 0 0.11 0.2
Counties Manukau 0.02 0.07 0.1 0.13
Hawke's Bay 0.03 0.14 0.23 0.17
Hutt Valley 0.12 0 0 0.09
Lakes 0.03 0 0.04 0.05
MidCentral 0.05 0 0 0.12
Nelson Marlborough 0.15 0 0 0.12
Northland 0.06 0.11 0 0.1
South Canterbury 0.11 0 0.68 0.21
Southern 0.41 0.14 0.14 0.42
Tairāwhiti 0.02 0 0 0.09
Taranaki 0 0 0.08 0.06
Waikato 0.1 0.04 0.25 0.24
Wairarapa 0.06 0 0 0.05
Waitematā 0.22 0.23 0.09 0.12
West Coast 0 0 0 0.2
Whanganui 0 0 0.47 0.03
Total 0.09 0.11 0.17 0.19

Note: we cannot give the total number of people testing positive per DHB and ethnicity for privacy reasons.

Testing rate and results by age and sex

Tests by age group from 22 January to 19 February 2021
Age group Total people tested Tested positive (%) Test rate per 1000 people
0 to 9 139374 0.1% 220.86
10 to 19 146292 0.14% 228.23
20 to 29 306023 0.2% 409.72
30 to 39 297044 0.18% 435.56
40 to 49 238630 0.16% 391.94
50 to 59 233918 0.16% 368.66
60 to 69 167633 0.17% 313.44
70 to 79 76495 0.15% 210.42
80+ 35276 0.16% 188.96
Unknown 1 0% NA
Total 1640686 0.17% 326.22
Tests by sex from 22 January to 19 February 2021
Sex Total people tested Tested positive (%) Test rate per 1000 people
Female 843992 0.16% 331.72
Male 716890 0.18% 288.48
Unknown 79804 0.11% NA
Total 1640686 0.17% 310.36

New Zealand's approach to COVID-19 testing

New Zealand has a goal of maintaining the elimination COVID-19 in our country. Planned, targeted testing is one of the tools that can help meet this goal.

COVID-19 is a new disease, so we had to build a completely new testing capability.

There are two types of test for COVID-19:

  • a viral test that shows if you are currently infected with the virus (also called a PCR test)
  • an antibody test that shows whether you were infected before (also known as a serology test).

In New Zealand, the only publicly-available test is the viral test. This test is most reliable for diagnosing COVID-19 if it is taken at the right time (during the first week of the illness).

The first viral test result for COVID-19 was available on 22 January 2020, just over a month before the first case was detected here.

We don’t test without planning. A testing strategy is agreed in advance, based on each stage of the crisis and how we decide to manage it.

Find out more about our testing strategy

Page last updated: 19 February 2021

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