Two district health boards are reporting "widespread" abuse and even "violent behaviour" towards Covid-19 testing centre staff.
Hutt Valley and Capital and Coast DHBs are asking people to be patient "following widespread abusive, aggressive, and violent behaviour" at testing centres.
"We understand that this is a scary and stressful situation for many people, however, our staff are doing the best they can and deserve respect and kindness while they do their work," said Junior Ulu, the DHBs' Covid-19 response acting general manager.
"This is not only distressing for our teams and members of the public who witness this sort of behaviour, it compromises our ability to keep collection points running and to stand up additional capacity."
READ MORE: Free rapid antigen tests now available for home testing
He said the DHBs are working to administer and distribute rapid antigen tests but were "experiencing an unacceptable level of abusive behaviour… across the board".
Meanwhile in Porirua, the city's sole community testing centre at Cannons Creek is closed on Friday due to a large funeral nearby.
The DHB said there are concerns about the ability to effectively manage queues and traffic disruption while being sensitive to mourners. High-risk populations in Porirua would continue to have access to tests through community providers.
Testing centres in the Hutt Valley and Capital and Coast areas are distributing boxes of five tests that can be used by household members.
People are urged to only collect tests from testing centres if they have symptoms or live with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.
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