New Zealand's biggest Pasifika health provider is warning the worst of the pandemic is yet to come for the hard-hit South Auckland community.
South Seas Health gets around 450 calls for help a day from over 360 households isolating with Omicron, with many families feeling alone.
"The most important part of our home visits is engaging with them to build that trust," mobile lead Cherry Elisaia told 1News.
"We know that a lot of people are going through anxiety, you can see it in their body language."
Isolating patient Epifania Faasavalu said it was a relief to have nurses visit during their period of isolation.
Rapid antigen tests are stocked, ready to go. But South Seas Health is under the pump.
"I think with the speed of it [Omicron] and how it spreads, we knew it was coming, but didn't expect this," South Seas chief executive Lemalu Silao Vaisola-Sefo said.
About a third of the frontline staff are affected, but partnerships with other groups are getting it through.
"Everyone is working together but the need is great," Silao Vaisola-Sefo said.
"We've probably got another two weeks of this."
There were 20,989 new Covid-19 cases in the community in New Zealand on Friday.
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