78968 (2024). Hon Jo Luxton to the Minister for Biosecurity

78968 (2024). Hon Jo Luxton to the Minister for Biosecurity: What testing capacity does New Zealand currently have for identifying strains of avian influenza?

Hon Andrew Hoggard: New Zealand has excellent capacity to identify the strain of any avian influenza virus identified in New Zealand. MPI maintains extensive capability at its Wallaceville laboratory that includes specialist expertise together with rapid diagnostic methods and full genomic sequencing and analysis. This capability can determine virus characteristics such as H & N types, high vs low pathogenicity, and the full genome sequence, permitting comparison with previously identified virus strains both in New Zealand and elsewhere in the world. This capability was used for the recent identification of H7N6 in north Otago and was able to characterise the strain involved within 48 hours of receiving the first sample at the laboratory.