Research out of the United Kingdom that pulse oximeters don't work so well for people with darker skin, is causing concern in Aotearoa where more than half of the Covid-19 cases in the current outbreak have been among Maori and Pasifika.

Nearly everyone isolating at home with the virus is supposed to get an oximeter which measures blood oxygen levels by shining light through the skin. 

But the devices can overstate the amount of oxygen present in the blood of people with darker skin. 

That resulted in one family delaying calling an ambulance, because they were relying on falsely high oxygen readings.

Māni Dunlop interviews Pasifika Medical Association chief executive Debbie Sorensen.