Economy Needs To Reopen On Monday

Businesses are urging the Government to move to Level 2 of the Covid lockdown on Monday.

BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope says there’s a huge desire by businesses to reopen as soon as possible

"Given our active case numbers are low, we don’t have community transmission, and we have effective tracing and testing, we should be heading for Level 2 on Monday," Kirk Hope said.

"Every day counts for thousands of businesses that are still closed. The longer they stay closed, the more they risk losing everything. Many enterprises are living in fear of not being able to re-open, while others fear re-opening in an economy that’s been closed so long it can no longer sustain their business.

"We can justify moving to Level 2 because our Covid stats are good.

"Contact tracing is now effective and fast.

"Testing numbers are excellent, with 36% of the population tested so far. New Zealand is 27th out of 212 areas and countries for tests per head of population and we can continue to improve on that."

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