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Victoria has adopted a non-invasive test for COVID-19 which just requires a sample of saliva – but the test has just an 87 per cent success rate meaning one in eight who have the virus will roam sick.

“The gold standard, of course, is a throat swab,” the Doherty Institute's Professor Sharon Lewin said.

“The advantage of the saliva test, of course, is it’s much more acceptable for people to give a specimen, people just need to collect saliva in their mouth for a minute or two and then spit it into a small jar and then that gets sent off to the laboratory,” Professor Lewin said.

She said authorities expect the test to bolster reach across the state particularly among vulnerable populations and people who have difficulties with throat swabs such as children.

The new saliva test was developed by the Doherty Institute in Melbourne.

Image: AP