As reported yesterday by PMN News 

The Director-General of Health has slammed hostile and racist comments directed at the Samoan community on social media.

It follows the identification of the Assembly of God church in Mangere as one of the clusters in the latest Covid-19 outbreak.

"This is disappointing and frankly, gutless. ​I'm asking everyone in the country to be kind. The virus is the problem, not people, people are the solution. Be part of the solution," says Doctor Ashley Bloomfield.​

Earlier, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told 531pi Pacific Mornings that racist remarks made online towards Pasifika were unacceptable.

The Pacific community currently has the highest testing rate in the country to date, with 981 tests per 1000 people compared to 479 for Pākehā.

Sadly, as with the outbreak in Sept last year connected to the The Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship church, the Pacific community are once again the target of online abuse as a result. 

Jerome Mika is the Community and Business Development Lead for The Cause Collective (formerly Alliance Community Initiatives Trust or ACIT), a New Zealand charitable trust operating out of South Auckland since 2016 and is currently supporting church leaders of A.O.G. Samoa in Mangere.