"TOP is furious to see the Government wave a white flag at a time when we should declare war on Delta.

The Government won the first battle but now is choosing to lose the war.

TOP says the Government should have held its nerve for longer and committed to elimination. We call on a non-partisan collaboration - where all parties work to fight this war together and not each other.

Moving away from the elimination strategy before all communities have had the opportunity to get fully vaccinated is reckless, and Labour is now failing to protect the team of 5 million. The message the Government is sending is that we no longer need to put the health and safety of each other first.

TOP says the Government should be fixing the new stages of level 3 to specific vaccination levels for all communities. Their failure to do so is putting all of our communities, especially Māori and children, at an unacceptable risk and will result in deaths.

Labour provided no details this afternoon on how it will escalate vaccination and testing.

We are at war against this virus. The Government must continue to act like it."

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