One of the busiest Government agencies at the moment is the National Influenza Centre at ESR, North of Wellington, where technicians have been working around the clock testing influenza samples for swine flu.
Swine flu cases can now be confirmed within 30 hours of samples arriving at the lab and no longer need to be sent to Melbourne - a process which took up to five days.
There are now five confirmed cases in New Zealand and while authorities agree the cases so far have been mild, the possible mutation of the virus is a concern.
Watch the full interview with Dr Sue Huang, virologist and head of the National Influenza Centre at ESR
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