COVID-19

Testing for COVID-19

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

Last updated 1pm 21 February 2021.

All data on this page is as at 9:00am 21 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.

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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 1424 7883
People working at the border, in managed facilities, or near people travelling internationally 772 7153
Within New Zealand, not linked to the border 5140 56103
Other 56 471
Total 7392 71610
COVID-19 testing status
  Total
All COVID-19 viral tests administered* 1,658,429
Testing kits in stock (updated Mon-Fri only) 212,309

* Covers the period from 22 January 2020 (first test in New Zealand) to 21 February 2021. Note that some people are tested more than once.

Testing results from 22 January 2020* to 21 February 2021
Test results In managed facilities Within NZ communities Total
Tested positive for COVID-19 800 1932 2732
Tested negative (no COVID-19) 193457 1461989 1655446
Inconclusive result for COVID-19 4 247 251
Total (all tests) 194261 1464168 1658429

* 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 25 Jan to 31 Jan 1 Feb to 7 Feb 8 Feb to 14 Feb 15 Feb to 21 Feb
Managed isolation and quarantine facilities 7630 7249 7328 6469
Auckland 5291 3166 3056 7483
Bay of Plenty 1090 780 764 1794
Canterbury 2479 2107 1960 3907
Capital and Coast 1177 985 898 2465
Counties Manukau 5046 3374 3655 21189
Hawkes Bay 360 370 320 1005
Hutt Valley 390 312 255 882
Lakes 466 318 338 928
MidCentral 592 528 393 1145
Nelson Marlborough 459 452 367 839
Northland 4430 432 419 1064
South Canterbury 140 115 132 319
Southern 1110 785 878 2037
Tairāwhiti 144 119 132 355
Taranaki 418 281 221 1678
Waikato 1589 1027 1124 4028
Wairarapa 101 77 90 188
Waitematā 10401 3468 3162 7844
West Coast 60 36 29 57
Whanganui 116 109 73 427
Unknown 1890 1519 1459 2373
Total 45379 27609 27053 68476

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 25 Jan to 31 Jan 1 Feb to 7 Feb 8 Feb to 14 Feb 15 Feb to 21 Feb
Maori 5693 2708 2846 10379
Pacific peoples 3834 2790 2890 11017
Asian 7355 4652 4433 12059
European/Other 24043 13369 12665 29949
Unknown 4454 4090 4219 5072
Total 45379 27609 27053 68476

Testing rate and results by location and ethnicity

All tests by DHB and in managed isolation and quarantine facilities from 22 January 2020 to 21 February 2021
Location Total tests Tested positive (%) Test rate per 1000 people
Managed isolation and quarantine facilities 194261 0.41% NA
Auckland 207934 0.15% 370.98
Bay of Plenty 57615 0.08% 235.59
Canterbury 125068 0.12% 214.66
Capital and Coast 82855 0.16% 254.69
Counties Manukau 266104 0.09% 458.92
Hawkes Bay 33562 0.14% 199.91
Hutt Valley 30435 0.08% 200.45
Lakes 30607 0.04% 274.1
MidCentral 37453 0.1% 205.1
Nelson Marlborough 30040 0.11% 196.35
Northland 41222 0.09% 224.09
South Canterbury 10513 0.21% 174.76
Southern 69112 0.39% 205
Tairāwhiti 11859 0.04% 239.93
Taranaki 24491 0.05% 201.25
Waikato 103225 0.19% 240.58
Wairarapa 8672 0.05% 188.02
Waitematā 231701 0.13% 359.26
West Coast 3114 0.16% 97.49
Whanganui 11847 0.03% 182.1
Unknown 46739 0.1% NA
Total 1658429 0.16% 281.83
Tests by ethnicity from 22 January 2020 to 21 February 2021
Ethnicity* Total test Tested positive (%) Test rate per 1000 people
Māori 235387 0.09% 297.46
Pacific peoples 192671 0.11% 592.12
Asian 235710 0.17% 293.81
European/Other 886147 0.19% 284.9
Unknown 108514 0.23% NA
Total 1658429 0.16% 308.18

* 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 21 February 2021
Location Māori Pacific peoples Asian European/Other
Auckland 405.05 549.73 260.26 405.28
Bay of Plenty 256.6 455.98 162.61 230.13
Canterbury 209.77 280.72 198.03 213.58
Capital and Coast 253.6 301.6 171.75 266.57
Counties Manukau 456.24 763.36 350.71 359.33
Hawke's Bay 203 403.09 131.3 191.4
Hutt Valley 196.22 251.33 165.7 201.39
Lakes 295.78 422.49 229.07 257.91
MidCentral 198.19 262.23 131.12 211.66
Nelson Marlborough 206.27 433.15 142.54 192.33
Northland 250.71 245.52 165.76 211.77
South Canterbury 174.99 497.85 171.45 171.13
Southern 188.42 301.41 153.5 208.64
Tairāwhiti 258.73 322.05 239.54 213.12
Taranaki 200.66 287.17 195.29 198.84
Waikato 269.07 331.16 202.55 226.89
Wairarapa 198.02 318.76 203.52 180.58
Waitematā 374.99 538.41 287.75 361.16
West Coast 90.2 196.52 133.44 95.82
Whanganui 179.95 242.98 134.58 183.24
Total 279.95 554.76 252.16 258.96

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 21 February 2021
Location Māori Pacific peoples Asian European/Other
Auckland 0.07 0.19 0.13 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 0.12
Hawke's Bay 0.03 0.15 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 0.1 0 0.69 0.2
Southern 0.4 0.14 0.14 0.42
Tairāwhiti 0.02 0 0 0.08
Taranaki 0 0 0.08 0.06
Waikato 0.09 0.04 0.25 0.24
Wairarapa 0.06 0 0 0.05
Waitematā 0.21 0.22 0.09 0.12
West Coast 0 0 0 0.19
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 21 February 2021
Age group Total people tested Tested positive (%) Test rate per 1000 people
0 to 9 141213 0.09% 223.78
10 to 19 148815 0.14% 232.16
20 to 29 309322 0.2% 414.14
30 to 39 300260 0.18% 440.28
40 to 49 241209 0.16% 396.17
50 to 59 235984 0.16% 371.92
60 to 69 169096 0.16% 316.17
70 to 79 77040 0.14% 211.91
80+ 35489 0.16% 190.1
Unknown 1 0% NA
Total 1658429 0.16% 329.75
Tests by sex from 22 January to 21 February 2021
Sex Total people tested Tested positive (%) Test rate per 1000 people
Female 847496 0.16% 333.1
Male 717181 0.18% 288.6
Unknown 93752 0.09% NA
Total 1658429 0.16% 311.11

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: 21 February 2021

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