What does the new saliva test for COVID-19 involve, how accurate is it and how does it compare to swab testing?

So far more than 100 people in Victoria have had a saliva test for coronavirus after the state became the first in Australia to roll out the more pleasant, albeit slightly less exact, option. The institute says the saliva test has a sensitivity of around 87 per cent; in other words, if you 'spit test' 100 people who all have COVID-19, about 13 will be false negatives. "The other thing is, saliva is where the virus ends up before it's transmitted, it's not where it's growing, it's not as direct a test of infection," Professor Turner says. The Doherty Institute says there is no chance a saliva test could return a positive result if the person is COVID-19 negative. "For little kids, which seems to be one of the target audiences here, a saliva test is a much more attractive and agreeable form of collection", Dr Mackay says.