“There is capacity in general practice in the region to manage expected demand for swabbing, so the testing clinics are not necessary at this point,” WellSouth chief executive Andrew Swanson-Dobbs said.
"They can be operational in a matter of hours if additional testing support is needed."
Hundreds of southerners flocked to testing centres in Dunedin and Invercargill following community transmission cases of Covid-19 being discovered in Auckland and Tokoroa last week.
GPs also had many patients come in for free Covid-19 testing. Mr Swanson-Dobbs was confident practices and clinics could deal with the number of people expected to seek tests this week.
"Our advice to people in the region needing testing continues to be contact your GP first or our 0800 Virus 19 call centre. Symptomatic people will be referred for testing.”
In addition to thousands of tests conducted in general practice last week, staff at the Dunedin drive-through testing station performed 211 swabs over the weekend, and staff in Invercargill performed 60 tests.
No positive tests have been recorded in the South.
Nationally, Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday 13 new cases of Covid-19 had been detected up until 9am yesterday — 12 in the community and one in managed isolation.
The community transmission cases, all from Auckland, were either confirmed as being linked to the current cluster of cases in Auckland and Tokoroa or were very likely to be linked to it.
Three of those people were in hospital and the remainder were in a quarantine facility, Dr Bloomfield said.
"The total number of active cases in New Zealand is now 69, of which 49 are from the recent community outbreak, and 20 are imported cases in managed isolation and quarantine facilities."
Auckland is at Covid-19 Alert Level 3, while the rest of the country is at Level 2.
The levels remain until August 26 but will be reviewed on August 21.
The New Zealand Herald reported one of the active cases was a student at the Auckland University of Technology.
Yesterday, vice-chancellor Derek McCormack sent an email to all staff advising of the student’s test result.
The university understood the student’s movements and physical interactions were limited to the MBA programme and specific areas of the city campus, he said.
Dr Bloomfield said one of the positive cases in Tokoroa was present at the Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, Tokoroa campus, on August 10 and 11, and contact tracing related to that person was under way.
Nationally, laboratories processed 23,682 Covid-19 tests on Saturday, Dr Bloomfield said.
"Because of the high volumes that we are seeing, it may take up to 48 hours for swabs to be processed through the labs.
"All results still need to be reported back through primary care and reported back to the patient, which can add to the time for an individual to hear their result."
Health Minister Chris Hipkins yesterday pleaded for New Zealanders to take care what information on Covid-19 they shared on social media, and condemned the spreading of untrue rumours about how the current cluster of cases might have started.
"Not only was it harmful and dangerous, it was totally and utterly wrong," he said.
"It did not happen. It was fully investigated, and that investigation concluded that it was completely false."
People should believe information from official sources such as the daily government briefing in preference to unsubstantiated claims on the internet, Mr Hipkins said.
"Behind the scenes, from early on every morning, there are dozens of dedicated people tracking down, cross referencing and checking every bit of information in preparation for these media conferences.
"That means that the information we share is verified."
