Nationwide Covid-19 RATs campaign all returned negative results

The island underwent a nationwide Rapid Antigen Test (RATs) community testing campaign last Saturday.

According to Niue Covid-19 Situation Report issued on Monday, a total of “1,246 Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) were undertaken from a total resident population of 1,606 people.”

This was 78% of the total population in Niue and all results returned back negative. 

Those who were eligible to participate in the campaign were those aged three years and over. 

In a government press release issued on Monday this week, Director-General of Health and Social Services Gaylene Tasmania says that “the campaign’s overall aim was to identify any undetected cases in the community and to isolate them in a timely fashion. 

“The one-time community-wide asymptomatic testing aimed to capture as much of the population as possible.”

“This was voluntary, and we were hoping for a good turnout, and that’s exactly what happened,” says Tasmania. 

Director-General Gaylene Tasmania says that the campaign was also an opportunity to show members of the community how to use a Rapid Antigen Test.

BCN News spoke with Head of Public Health Grizelda Mokoia that the team are still collating the test results from the campaign and are expecting more than 80% of the resident population to have returned negative results. 

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health Doctor Mariam Parwaiz told BCN News that “all results being negative is a really good indication that we do not have undetected cases of Covid-19 on the island.”

Resulting in Niue’s National Covid-19 Alert Code Red to Alert Code Yellow yesterday evening. 

Dr Parwaiz says that if in the future the island sees a major increase of Covid-19 cases, the health department will work together with the communities to mitigate the spread of the virus as they have done with the RATs campaign so far. 

Government and health officials would like to thank everyone for their participation.