“The Government will once again be in full self-congratulations mode for securing Rapid Antigen Test when it never should have been a RAT race in the first place,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“The Government talks about going hard and fast, but the truth is it needed an outbreak to prepare for Omicron. It is Delta all over again.

“The Government has made two massive U-turns. One, it is begging for Rapid Antigen Tests that it used to ban. Two, it is now letting businesses import Rapid Antigen Tests without them being confiscated.

“The additional Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) is good news and a good start, but it never should have come down to a Minister begging, borrowing and stealing once Omicron was already in the community.

“ACT has been saying it since last June. The restrictions make no sense. We needed to introduce RATs. Instead of preparing, the Government made them illegal and banned their import, before realising its mistake and stealing them from private businesses.

“If the Government had listened to ACT and taken a rational policy approach eight months ago, we wouldn’t need this announcement today. However, Labour’s way of working is all announcement and no delivery, let alone strategy.”

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