The Health Ministry is being accused of giving conflicting information about our stocks of nasal swabs, which are considered the most accurate tool in testing for COVID-19.

The nasopharyngeal swab is the most invasive swab but it's also the most effective for detecting COVID-19 because the virus replicates in the back of the nose.

Professor David Murdoch an Otago University clinical microbiologist and Infectious diseases specialist says: "It is the preferred site. It's the sample that's going to have the greatest chance of picking it up as being positive".

The Ministry of Health's Director-General Dr Ashley Bloomfield said on Monday New Zealand had "plenty" of them but Newshub has discovered this might not be the case.

Hundreds of doctors in Auckland were told they'll need to start using something else because of supply issues.