“Aucklanders are paying for contact tracing that’s too slow and testing that wasn’t up to scratch,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“Whether today’s decision is Level 3 or Level 4, Aucklanders lives will still be on hold and businesses will suffer.
“Delta caught the Government unaware, despite being around for months, but it’s everyone else who is paying the price.
“Delta outran the contact tracing capacity. There simply wasn’t enough preparation to make sure it was up to scratch.
“There still hasn’t been enough testing to ensure that there isn’t still community transmission.
“ACT is once again calling on the Government to do the right thing by businesses today. There should be weekly Resurgence Payments under Level 4, Level 3 and for hospitality under Level 2.
“To avoid flying blind, the Government should be rolling out new testing, and not just saliva. It should be delivering tens of thousands of saliva tests each day, especially in areas of high risk.
“It should, as a matter of urgency, remove the absurd ban on New Zealanders importing self-tests. Self-testing is widely used offshore and should be legalised in New Zealand so that Government and business alike can roll it out here.
“There should not be 5,000 tests in Auckland every day. There should be tens of thousands, but the Government will not achieve that sustainably if people have to drive to a centre and have a swab stuffed up their nasopharyngeal tract.
“The cost of ongoing lockdowns is too high to sustain just because the Government isn’t sure. We need to get with the program and use the same technology as the rest of the world to test more for greater certainty."