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Frontline doctor frustrated over lack of testing for Covid-19

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 3 Apr 2020, 9:45AM
Photo / NZ Herald
Photo / NZ Herald

Frontline doctor frustrated over lack of testing for Covid-19

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 3 Apr 2020, 9:45AM

A frontline doctor has described his and colleagues' frustration over the lack of testing for Covid-19 - and says the Government may now need to move to some form of community surveillance.

"We have been frustrated over the level of testing. Doctors on the frontline can only really test patients who walk through our door," Wellington urgent care doctor Dr Kelvin Ward told Mike Hosking this morning.

"That testing is opportunistic to a certain degree. If testing is going to be widened to the extent the government is talking about, the government may need to do community surveillance of certain groups."

The Government has said tests will increase to 5000 a day - 1300 more than the current 3750 daily testing limit.

While testing rates had now improved, as case definition widened, it had been frustrating that the response to so many health experts' pushing for more testing had been so slow, said Ward.

"We see testing levels that don't just seem enough."

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