It’s taken far too long for the Government move on saliva testing at the border but National welcomes the announcement nonetheless, National’s Covid-19 spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“National has been pushing for the Government to include saliva testing as part of the testing methods for our border workers for months.

“The Government’s slowness to move on saliva testing for our border workers has been staggering.

“It’s been eight months since the Roche/Simpson report recommended ‘all efforts should be made to introduce saliva testing as soon as possible as part of the range of testing methods being conducted’.

“Public health experts have recommended introducing regular saliva testing across our border workforce, but the Government has been very slow to act.

“Frequent saliva testing across our border facilities would increase our security against Covid-19 at the border and would mean positive cases are picked up more quickly.

“This was a no-brainer, it shouldn’t have taken this long to get saliva testing across our border workforce.”

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