Chris Hipkins has defended New Zealand's Covid-19 response despite a new report highlighting failures with the system.
Among some of the failings the report found was a lack of communication by the Ministry of Health with those working on the ground and the testing regime.
Hipkins, the Covid-19 Response Minister acknowledged the report’s findings but says the system isn't working at its optimum.
“I don’t want to skip over the fact that people have worked incredibly hard to do something that’s unprecedented,” he says.
“When you look at the overall outcomes that we have achieved we can be proud of those. The report highlights where we could have done better - there’s no question the system has been learning as it’s been going along.”
He acknowledged there was confusion over Covid-19 testing as well as a lack of testing during the coronavirus response, but says this has been addressed for some months now.
“If you look at the overall high rates of testing that we’re continuing to see now even as we head into summer I think we can have confidence that our testing regime is a good strong one now.”
Hipkins says he’s been open about changes that the Government has made as they’ve learned more about dealing with Covid-19.
“The response was put together in a hurry and there will naturally be areas for improvement that will be identified as we continue to refine our response.”
He says the teams working on the response were working under pressure and scrutiny and did a good job and managed to get the country to where it is now due to their hard work.
Hipkins says he will continue to identify areas where the system needs to be improved.
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