Coronavirus saliva tests available in France in weeks

Saliva tests for coronavirus should be rolled out across France from the end of September, the president of the Conseil Scientifique told a senate hearing on Tuesday.

Professor Jean-Francois Delfraissy told senators that the tests, which he said had a 'sensitivity of 80%', had been trialled in the Paris region and in French Guiana and would make testing quicker and easier than the current swab method.

He said they would mean it was possible to develop a 'simpler strategy' to deal with outbreaks of the illness.

Results will be available between 15 minutes and one hour after a sample was taken, he told the hearing.

Controversial coronavirus medic Didier Raoult, an early advocate of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure, attended the hearings on Tuesday afternoon.

As well as his support for hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, Prof Raoult, has claimed that “if people had listened to me, we would have had half the number of deaths from coronavirus.”