Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield has apologised for the delay of 32,000 Covid-19 test results.
"It's now clear that we overestimated the number of tests the lab network could actually process once Omicron began to take off, and take off it did, quite rapidly," Bloomfield said at a media conference on Tuesday.
He said "the rapidly increasing number of cases around the country has lead to the delay of around 32,000 samples".
"Labs are committed to processing all tests, those people will get a result even though it's been delayed," Bloomfield said.
"We have sent text messages out to those people who's results have been delayed, encouraging them if they still have symptoms or have developed symptoms to go and get a test."
He added when people finally receive their results, "in some instances the result may be less sensitive than usual due to the delay in processing, there's a loss of sensitivity that may affect a negative result but all positive results will be a confirmation of Covid-19."
Nine thousand tests were sent to Queensland over the weekend to help clear the backlog in New Zealand, Bloomfield said.
"I do want to emphasise the delays are not the fault of our labs or the staff there, they have been working incredibly hard right through the pandemic and have done phenomenal work over these past few weeks."
It comes as the country recorded a record 19,566 cases of Covid-19 in the community on Tuesday.
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