Kiwi scientists are working on a test to detect if someone has COVID-19 within a few hours of being infected.
If successful, those who test negative would not need to go into managed isolation at the border.
AgResearch principal scientist Axel Heiser says saliva samples would be taken at the airport.
"The current testing methods for COVID-19 are detecting viral RNA, but the virus needs to grow for a few days until its RNA can be found in the samples taken for the test," he said.
"Instead of viral RNA we want to measure what we call microRNA molecules (miRNAs). The body’s cells make thousands of different miRNAs to control their response to diseases.”
These molecules are produced "immediately after virus infection", says Sandeep Gupta, also of AgResearch.
"Our intention is to... find a pattern of them that is specific to the presence of COVID-19. We can then develop a test that detects this pattern, and therefore tells us the disease is present within hours of infection in otherwise asymptomatic people."
If successful, the test could cut the length of isolation or quarantine at the border from 14 days to just a few hours.
"If you are on the plane and you get infected on the plane, we really hope to be able to detect that," said Dr Heiser.
"When they leave the plane, they get tested - they have to be quarantined for maybe a few hours until the test is out, if the test lives up to our hopes and expectations... We can say well, this person is certainly not infected and can leave quarantine and start their vacation or go back to their families."
The researchers have been granted $250,000 from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, part of the COVID-19 Innovation Acceleration Fund.
"If we can accurately establish the presence, or absence, of infection at an earlier stage than is currently possible, this test will make targeted contact tracing far more effective and could help make long quarantine measures unnecessary for people travelling to New Zealand." said Dr Gupta.
They hope to have a test in trials within a year.
It's not known when a vaccine for the disease might be available. One of the biggest trials - a collaboration between AstraZeneca and Oxford University - is due to report its initial results early next week.
New Zealand currently has 27 active cases of COVID-19, all caught in managed isolation or quarantine at the border. There is no evidence of community transmission.
Worldwide, the pandemic is accelerating. More than 200,000 new infections are confirmed every day, and the average daily death toll is creeping back up.
