The Government has been told by its own independent expert advisory group that there is a ‘strong case for adopting saliva testing as the main method for testing in New Zealand’, yet nothing is being done about it.

Sir Brian Roche’s September 2020 report said ‘all efforts’ should be made to introduce saliva testing as soon as possible.

Those involved are scratching their heads as to why there has been no change.

Leon Grice is the Executive Director of Rako Science, a private provider of saliva tests, and he told Kerre McIvor saliva testing has been proven as effective in tracing Covid-19, yet that finding has not been passed onto the Government.

"We did a head to head comparison in the lab between nasal swabs and saliva and were able to demonstrate it’s at least as, if not more accurate than nasal testing but that information never went to Mr. Hipkins."

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