Earlier this month the Government announced that schools, kura and early learning centres will soon be able to opt-in to receive rapid antigen tests (RATs).
In a statement, Education and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the move was aimed at keeping schools and early learning centres open where possible.
"Feedback I have received from the education sector is that greater access to rapid antigen testing could help them to do that," he said.
"The Ministry of Education currently has several hundred thousand tests to hand and will receive nearly a million more over the next week to be distributed through its regional offices. Schools, kura and early learning services can opt-in to receive a supply of tests."
Staff at specialist schools, special needs units and school hostels would be prioritised for distribution, he said, and people who were symptomatic would be able to access rapid antigen tests through their child's school rather than going to a testing centre.
The move would be a short-term measure and would be reviewed.
"We already have RATs widely available for individuals who are symptomatic, but ... every parent will know that there'll be a time or an occasion when their child may be perfectly fine when they go to school and then suddenly may come down with a fever, a sore throat, or feel unwell,” noted Jacinda Ardern, adding that she would not describe the move announced as turning schools into distribution centres.
"This is a really practical thing we can do to make it easier for families if their child when they're sent home goes home with a RAT, and rapid antigen test for the family. It just makes it easier."
She did not expect the RATs supply for schools to take particularly long.
Hipkins said state and state-integrated schools had been using masks, CO2 monitors, portable air cleaners and natural ventilation to help prevent the spread of the virus. The government expected to have supplied at least one portable air cleaner to every school by May, with larger schools receiving more.
