The first two days of Alert Level 2 show a rebound towards normality. Electricity use is back to normal (up a touch from last year) and flights are edging up.

During Thursday and Friday, traffic volumes continued to build. Returning to half of normal by Friday. The morning peak is still much lower, but this will likely lift once schools open again.

Internet use is just 2% above normal, versus 15%-30% higher during lockdown. Suggesting working from home has reduced substantially.

Saturday traffic was 90% of normal - this will be a much needed boost for retail and hospitality sectors. Christchurch. Hamilton and Tauranga are back to normal – in terms of weekend traffic. Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin are still below normal.

Spending data in the Treasury’s dashboard will be a key gauge to see how spending is tracking. This will tell us if people are just enjoying getting out, or also spending - and how much the new restrictions on space and distancing is affecting spending.

The full dashboard is here.

Traffic volumes picked up gradually through Alert Level 2. Weekend traffic was back to 90% of normal, although there are variations across regions.