Health Ministry working on priority covid19 testing for police

Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds has said the Health Ministry is "working behind the scenes" with police to ensure swift covid19 testing for officers so they can return to duty as soon as possible.

In an infographic on Monday, the police said there were 217 officers "testing positive for covid19 at present," with 1,096 in quarantine. Three officers have died from the virus to date.

Police have asked for the ministry to prioritise them for testing so their results can be processed sooner. For instance, if an officer may have to wait over a week to get back a result, when if it is negative they could have used the time spent waiting in quarantine to work on the frontline instead.

Asked about this during the ministry's virtual press conference on Monday morning, Hinds said the police have a "very close" relationship with the ministry.

He said, "To the extent that it's possible, we do try to facilitate requests, especially when groups of officers may be affected by a particular exposure, etc...

"So there's a dynamic in place behind the scenes to try and ensure this very crucial group does not get adversely affected by the exposures that they have and by any delays that may occur in the testing cycle. So we are already working on doing those things behind the scenes, and we will continue to do so."