Chris Hipkins says a rural delivery service for Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) announced on Wednesday isn’t too late, and will give greater access for those in harder-to-reach areas.
The Covid-19 Response Minister together with Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced the service on Wednesday.
Over 95% of New Zealanders are within a 20 minute drive of a RAT access point, Hipkins said.
However, there are 250,000 who live remotely that can't access them as easily.
When asked during the announcement if it was too late in the outbreak to launch the service, Hipkins said it was “never too late”.
“The peak will be working its way through the rest of the community; some of those rural and isolated areas will be among the last people to potentially see a peak of Covid-19 cases,” he said.
Read more: 15,918 new Covid cases on Wednesday, 14 deaths in last 6 days
Some DHBs already have initiatives underway to reach their rural communities, but Verrall said this service will help connect households up with them.
She said Whanganui DHB had been distributing RATs via jet boats up the river and stock trucks travelling around the region.
If there are no existing initiatives in the area, then RATs will be couriered directly to the household.
Verrall also confirmed that a national Māori-led distribution channel had grown in size to 1000 community partners including Māori health, social and disability providers, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori, Te Kohanga Reo, marae and most vulnerable Māori.
To date, the Māori-led distribution channel has distributed nearly 7m RATs. The channel is also working alongside DHBs and the Ministry of Health to ensure Pasifika, other communities and the health and disability sector have equitable access to RATs.
The Ministry of Health earlier in March announced it was working with DHBs to ensure 90% of the population had easy access to RATs, and that it was setting up a centralised delivery option.
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