COVID-19 updates
Always use The Ministry of Health website as the source of correct and up to date information
What saliva testing isPeople may find providing saliva as a sample for COVID-19 testing to be a more comfortable and convenient way compared to a nasopharyngeal or nasal swab taken by a healthcare worker. Saliva samples can be self-collected and dropped off at a collection point or observed by health care worker. Testing is then undertaken by accredited laboratories and follows almost the same process as the testing of samples from nasopharyngeal swabs – both are Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests which identify genetic material in the virus. Saliva can also be used as a sample for some rapid antigen tests, which is processed differently. There is more information on the Rapid antigen testing page. Click here for more information Comments are closed.
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