COVID-19 Quarantine Workers

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:45): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding public health.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.E. HANSON: Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr Emily Kilpatrick announced earlier this month that daily saliva testing would be conducted on all hotel quarantine workers from Monday 8 February and that this daily testing would be conducted across the quarantine chain, including airport workers, by Monday 22 February. My questions to the minister are:

1. Is daily saliva testing for all quarantine workers mandatory?

2. Can the minister assure the council that daily saliva testing will become mandatory across the entire quarantine chain, including airport workers, as of this coming Monday?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:46): I don't want to be tedious, but I might just take the first minute or two to correct the record. It is not Kilpatrick, it is Kirkpatrick. In terms of what she said, she didn't say it would start on 8 February, she said it commenced on 8 January and that it would be covering all medi-hotel workers by 8 February and that it would cover all quarantine pathway workers by 22 February. So if we could just, if you like, report her correctly.

My advice is that it was rolled out to all medi-hotel workers by 8 February as planned, and so I look forward to it being fully rolled out to all quarantine pathway workers by 22 February.