Collins keen for daily mandatory saliva tests

National Party leader Judith Collins says the Government should move to make daily saliva tests for all border workers and recent returnees mandatory.

Daily saliva tests are being piloted for some border workers in Auckland but are not in wide use across the roughly 12,000 people who work at or near the border, or in managed isolation hotels.

Collins said yesterday it was not clear if the community case that sparked a level 3 lockdown was infected by cleaning laundry from incoming flights – but she still should have been tested more regularly, and on a mandatory basis.

‘‘We don’t know at this stage whether or not the mother at the centre of this has got Covid-19 through her work, but it does seem remarkably remiss that there isn’t mandated testing,’’ Collins said.

‘‘I can understand people would be very concerned about the nasal test because it’s not something you could have every day because of the nature of it. But certainly a saliva test needs to be mandated.’’

The mother – who may or may not be the index case for the group – worked near the border an indirect capacity, washing laundry for incoming flights but having no face-to-face interaction with returnees. That meant she was not covered by a mandatory testing order, but her employer was voluntarily testing its employees.

She had not had a test in recent weeks as she had been on annual leave; those covered by the order are required to be tested even when on leave.

The saliva tests the Government use are in fact just a different collection method than the nasal swabs – with the same test being conducted.

Some research suggests they are slightly less accurate than nasal swabbed tests.

Collins said there appeared to a ‘‘reluctance’’ from the Government to roll out the daily saliva tests everywhere.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Government was not opposed to expanding saliva testing and there was enough capacity to test all border workers every day if needed.

‘‘We’ve got capacity for over 30,000 tests a day but, as I’ve said, there’s always opportunity costs,’’ Ardern said.

‘There seems to be an attempt here to build a case for our opposition to saliva testing. There isn’t one. But there’s of course a view that we need to make sure we integrate it, that we’ve got the right capacity to do it safely, and that we’re not compromising other parts of the system, and I think that’s all fair.’’