Testing for COVID-19

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

Last updated 1pm 27 February 2021.

All data on this page is as at 9:00 am on 27 February 2021 unless otherwise stated.

Data on this page is now updated daily.

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

On this page:

Testing summary, status, and results
Testing over the past 4 weeks
Testing rate and results by location and ethnicity
Testing rate and results by age and gender
New Zealand's approach to COVID-19 testing

See also:

How testing works - Unite against COVID-19

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	1111	7508
People working at the border, in managed facilities, or near people travelling internationally	789	5331
Within New Zealand, not linked to the border	5729	37082
Other	47	404
Total	7676	50325

COVID-19 testing status
	Total
All COVID-19 viral tests administered*	1,701,362
Testing kits in stock (updated weekdays only)	234,108

* Covers the period from 22 January 2020 (first test in New Zealand) to 27 February 2021. Note that some people are tested more than once.

Testing results from 22 January 2020* to 27 February 2021
Test results	In managed facilities	Within NZ communities	Total
Tested positive for COVID-19	825	1943	2768
Tested negative (no COVID-19)	199515	1498827	1698342
Inconclusive result for COVID-19	4	248	252
Total (all tests)	200344	1501018	1701362

* 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	7240
Auckland	5165	3067	2973	7813
Bay of Plenty	1083	768	755	1834
Canterbury	2468	2084	1949	4118
Capital and Coast	1164	970	883	2561
Counties Manukau	4975	3307	3586	22069
Hawkes Bay	356	366	317	1023
Hutt Valley	389	308	251	907
Lakes	456	311	329	926
MidCentral	591	526	393	1167
Nelson Marlborough	458	450	359	835
Northland	4416	424	415	1139
South Canterbury	139	114	130	317
Southern	1091	773	869	2061
Tairāwhiti	140	119	126	351
Taranaki	412	278	216	1729
Waikato	1567	1003	1086	4058
Wairarapa	99	77	89	209
Waitematā	10315	3419	3099	8238
West Coast	60	36	28	64
Whanganui	114	109	73	441
Unknown	2291	1851	1799	3270
Total	45379	27609	27053	72370

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	5669	2689	2833	10786
Pacific peoples	3476	2508	2767	11412
Asian	7134	4459	4215	12614
European/Other	23873	13236	12543	31229
Unknown	5227	4717	4695	6329
Total	45379	27609	27053	72370

Tests in managed isolation and quarantine
Test result	25 Jan to 31 Jan	1 Feb to 7 Feb	8 Feb to 14 Feb	15 Feb to 21 Feb
Tested positive for COVID-19	35	35	24	21
Tested negative (no COVID-19)	7595	7214	7304	7219
Inconclusive result for COVID-19	0	0	0	0

Tests within NZ communities
Test result	25 Jan to 31 Jan	1 Feb to 7 Feb	8 Feb to 14 Feb	15 Feb to 21 Feb
Tested positive for COVID-19	10	9	9	11
Tested negative (no COVID-19)	37735	20348	19716	65119
Inconclusive result for COVID-19	4	3	0	0

Total tests
Test result	25 Jan to 31 Jan	1 Feb to 7 Feb	8 Feb to 14 Feb	15 Feb to 21 Feb
Tested positive for COVID-19	45	44	33	32
Tested negative (no COVID-19)	45330	27562	27020	72338
Inconclusive result for COVID-19	4	3	0	0

Testing rate and results by location and ethnicity

All tests by DHB and in managed isolation and quarantine facilities from 22 January 2020 to 27 February 2021
Location	Total tests	Tested positive (%)	Test rate per 1000 people
Managed isolation and quarantine facilities	200344	0.41%	NA
Auckland	208322	0.15%	371.67
Bay of Plenty	57592	0.08%	235.5
Canterbury	126683	0.12%	217.43
Capital and Coast	83424	0.16%	256.44
Counties Manukau	275942	0.08%	475.89
Hawkes Bay	33020	0.14%	196.68
Hutt Valley	30812	0.08%	202.93
Lakes	30645	0.04%	274.44
MidCentral	37772	0.1%	206.85
Nelson Marlborough	29985	0.11%	196
Northland	41526	0.08%	225.74
South Canterbury	10548	0.21%	175.34
Southern	69297	0.39%	205.55
Tairāwhiti	11920	0.03%	241.16
Taranaki	24755	0.05%	203.42
Waikato	103698	0.19%	241.68
Wairarapa	8761	0.05%	189.95
Waitematā	233394	0.13%	361.88
West Coast	3126	0.16%	97.87
Whanganui	11883	0.03%	182.66
Unknown	67913	0.08%	NA
Total	1701362	0.16%	284.95

Tests by ethnicity from 22 January 2020 to 27 February 2021
Ethnicity*	Total test	Tested positive (%)	Test rate per 1000 people
Māori	239565	0.09%	302.74
Pacific peoples	194150	0.11%	596.66
Asian	235912	0.18%	294.06
European/Other	896186	0.19%	288.13
Unknown	135549	0.19%	NA
Total	1701362	0.16%	311.34

* 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 27 February 2021
Location	Māori	Pacific peoples	Asian	European/Other
Auckland	414.55	557.07	256.03	407.23
Bay of Plenty	259.52	371.12	156.4	232.24
Canterbury	213.86	285.46	194.64	216.94
Capital and Coast	258.05	306.4	169.39	268.99
Counties Manukau	472.53	785.75	368.55	372.73
Hawke's Bay	204.76	297.1	127.81	192.49
Hutt Valley	199.51	254.21	164.67	204.34
Lakes	297.79	421.31	215.83	259.95
MidCentral	201.01	266.46	127.31	213.71
Nelson Marlborough	209.49	330.47	136.31	194.06
Northland	253.55	247.85	161.01	213.38
South Canterbury	176.82	457.86	162.02	172.55
Southern	192.3	304.66	146.99	209.87
Tairāwhiti	261.93	302.53	224.01	214.29
Taranaki	203.26	292.09	180.97	202.18
Waikato	272.26	332.77	195.67	228.61
Wairarapa	200.84	321.13	192.96	182.81
Waitematā	380.44	542.6	285.25	365.2
West Coast	91.47	156.42	118.96	96.87
Whanganui	181.32	222.52	129.57	184.57
Total	285.04	561.55	252.29	262.1

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 27 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	0.06	0.19	0.1	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	0.21	0.24	0.17
Hutt Valley	0.13	0	0	0.09
Lakes	0.03	0	0.04	0.05
MidCentral	0.05	0	0	0.12
Nelson Marlborough	0.12	0	0	0.12
Northland	0.06	0.1	0	0.1
South Canterbury	0.1	0	0.73	0.2
Southern	0.39	0.14	0.15	0.42
Tairāwhiti	0.02	0	0	0.06
Taranaki	0	0	0.09	0.06
Waikato	0.09	0.04	0.27	0.24
Wairarapa	0.06	0	0	0.05
Waitematā	0.21	0.23	0.1	0.12
West Coast	0	0	0	0.19
Whanganui	0	0	0.48	0.03
Total	0.09	0.11	0.18	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 27 February 2021
Age group	Total people tested	Tested positive (%)	Test rate per 1000 people
0 to 9	145066	0.09%	229.88
10 to 19	155752	0.13%	242.99
20 to 29	317615	0.2%	425.24
30 to 39	308311	0.18%	452.08
40 to 49	247180	0.16%	405.98
50 to 59	241024	0.16%	379.86
60 to 69	172302	0.16%	322.17
70 to 79	78196	0.14%	215.09
80+	35916	0.16%	192.39
Unknown	NA	NA%	NA
Total	1701362	0.16%	338.29

Tests by sex from 22 January to 27 February 2021
Sex	Total people tested	Tested positive (%)	Test rate per 1000 people
Female	857562	0.16%	337.06
Male	721895	0.18%	290.5
Unknown	121905	0.07%	NA
Total	1701362	0.16%	314.05

New Zealand's approach to COVID-19 testing

New Zealand has a goal of eliminating COVID-19. Planned, targeted testing is one of the tools that can help meet this goal. We don't test without planning.

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