There is disbelief just a third of front-line border staff have been tested for Covid-19.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins says it's now compulsory for all of them to be tested for the virus.

Auckland University medical Professor Des Gorman told Mike Hosking it's a level of poor management difficult to contemplate.

He says we should be paying fastidious attention to the border.

Gorman rated the Government's response as "somewhere between two and three" out of 10.

"I've seen health systems manage medical emergencies worse than this but it takes some doing," Gorman told Hosking. "It's like we're living in a parallel universe."

He was particularly astounded that only a third of border workers had been tested up until this week. "I thought someone was pulling my leg."

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