Dunedin businesses and services are on track to meet today’s noon deadline for displaying official Covid Tracer QR posters after a "phenomenal" recent response.
Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dougal McGowan said he walked through the city’s central business district about noon yesterday and spotted only one business not displaying the required QR poster.
He had spoken to the firm, and the chamber was keen to support full compliance with the legal requirements to prominently display the posters.
Recent signs of increased compliance were "phenomenal — great to see", Mr McGowan added.
The Ministry of Health confirmed good progress in Otago-Southland but a spokeswoman said that "heavy last- minute registrations" were putting the system under pressure, so "some businesses may not have a QR code by the deadline".
These businesses would still need to use manual contact tracing processes until they could display the posters, the spokeswoman said.
The ministry would take a pragmatic approach, under the circumstances.
As at 10am yesterday, overall 5% of QR code posters were in Otago and 2% in Southland, matching their relative shares of the New Zealand population, she said.
Mr McGowan said displaying the posters in a prominent, helpful way near the business entrance was clearly in the interests of individual businesses and the overall business community, given swifter tracing would reduce the need for a stricter lockdown.
The recent Covid-19 outbreak in Auckland had given a "shock" reminder of the need to take strict precautions, he said.
The spokeswoman said breaches of the requirement to display a QR code during Alert Levels 3 and 2 were considered infringement offences under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 and could incur a $300 fee or court-imposed fine not exceeding $1000.
The enforcement process and who was responsible for compliance had yet to be confirmed and more information would be available later this week, she said.
