Tanenuiarangi Marae in Palmerston North has set up their very own drive through COVID-19 testing station.
The idea of having the testing stationed on the marae is to entice more Māori to get tested and while it's the last week of lockdown, CEO Danielle Harris says its better late than never.
She says, "Now that we've got the site here, we're confident we'll see an increase in Māori across the rohe coming in for testing.
"The statistics have been quite low in our region for our people."
It's a testing station that is the first iwi-led station in this community.
"This is the first iwi one in Papaioea and we hope that we might get a few more mobile sites up and running with Moupoko down in Levin and over in Fielding with our Ngāti Kauwhata relations," explains Harris.
Over 20,000 Māori reside in the Manawatū region, however, only 205 Māori have been tested.
Harris says it's important we don't ignore the signs.
"If we have a cough or a sneeze we just dismiss it but it's really important that we don't dismiss it."
Despite establishing this station quite late in the lockdown period, Harris says the testing will continue on as Alert Levels are downgraded.
She also says iwi and Māori have proven that we are an entity that can adapt and mobilise to this situation.
"We were quite mobilised, at least a couple weeks ahead.
It shows the Crown that the resources should be coming directly to us as iwi."
In the first two days of testing 40% of patients were Māori, Harris encourages more Māori to get tested to keep their bubbles safe.