Auckland is now at Alert Level 3
**UPDATED:** 1.23pm Sunday 28 February
The Prime Minister and the Director-General of Health have provided an update to media in the Beehive.
Ardern has confirmed that health authorities have found a possible person to person link for how Case M and N picked up Covid-19. This could eliminate concern that there are other chains of transmission to identify.
Ashley Bloomfield asked people to keep an eye out for atypical symptoms
"This new variant of the virus, the B117, does seem to be presenting with symptoms that are not the typical respiratory symptoms," he said.
If you have muscle aches, do consider this might be a Covid-19 symptom.
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**UPDATED:** 12.54 Sunday 28 February
Auckland is now at Alert Level 3 and the rest of the country is at Alert Level 2 until at least March 6.
Auckland Contract tracing locations of interest include:
• City Fitness (20 and 26 February)
• Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) Manukau Campus (22, 24, 25 February)
• Hunters Plaza (26 February)
• Burger King Highland Park (25 February)
• Your Health Pharmacy (23 February)
• Pak n Save Manukau (21 February)
For the latest locations of interest including times and dates please follow this link.
Here's what you need to know:
- Case M, the latest Covid-19 case, is a 21-year-old male, the older sibling of a Papatoetoe High School student.
- If you have symptoms of concern, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 or call your GP.
- Find your closest Covid-19 testing location on the Healthpoint website
- Stay home, in your bubbles if you are in Auckland. Gatherings with others outside this bubble are prohibited.
- If you go outside your home maintain physical distancing of 2 metres, or 1 metre in controlled environments where you know the others present.
- Travel in and out of Auckland is for essential travel only. A border will be established around Auckland, similar to the demarcations before.
- Essential services such as supermarkets and pharmacies will remain open.
- Aucklanders are asked to wear facial coverings when accessing essential services.
- Customer-facing businesses will need to move to non-contact methods of payment and collection.
- See the full list of guidelines under Alert Level 3 and Alert Level 2
- Keep up-to-date with the latest by following the Stuff live blog
Neighbourly will be updating this message as further information comes to hand.
Christmas Eve busiest shopping day of the year with more than 500,000 sales
Busiest shopping day of the year
Peak time 12 noon-1 pm - 563,303 transactions
Per second peak - 167 transactions
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Number of sales beats Black Friday, but lowest Christmas Eve in six years
Christmas Eve has been the busiest shopping day of the year with 9,745 sales a minute at its peak.
Payments company Worldline says noon to 1pm saw 563,303 sales recorded on its network, down by about 7 percent on a year ago.
The company's network covers about three-quarters of the electronic terminals in operation.
Worldline did not have a dollar value for spending, but the peak number of transactions was the lowest for the past six years and well shy of the record 679,436 in 2019, before the pandemic.
Earlier this month it noted rising sales in the first three weeks of the month, but they remained 1.3 percent lower than 2024, with most parts of the country trailing the previous year's spending.
Official data from Stats NZ to the end of November showed a small rise in spending on the previous month, to 1.6 percent higher for the year.
Retail spending has been subdued as households have remained cautious because of high prices and a slow benefit from lower interest rates, and as well as concerns about the soft labour market.
However, recent surveys have shown improving consumer sentiment with ANZ bank's monthly report showing confidence at its highest level in four years.
Boxing Day is traditionally the country's favourite shopping day, but with Black Friday spending also softer this year the amount going through retailers' terminals may also be down on a year ago.
Adding a dampener to consumer spending may be the recent rises in longer term fixed mortgage rates because of higher wholesale rates.
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Poll: Is it ok to regift something that you have been given?
🎁 Holiday Gift Chat!
Do you ever regift?
What’s your take on asking for a receipt if a gift doesn’t fit?
-
79.1% Yes! It's better to regift what I don't need
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20.9% No. It's the thought and effort that matters
Exclusive Christmas Sleep Deals - Up to 65% OFF Beds!
Hi neighbours,
This coming Christmas, why not treat yourself to better sleep? For one day only, we’re offering an extra 5% OFF on top of our already reduced Boxing Day Bed Sale prices!
With up to 65% OFF on selected beds and FREE delivery, there’s never been a better time to upgrade your sleep. But hurry, these deals are moving fast, and once stock is gone, it’s gone!
If you’d like to see what’s available:
Find your nearest Beds4U store: beds4u.co.nz/store-locator
Browse all Boxing Day deals: beds4u.co.nz/boxing-day
Don’t miss out, give yourself the gift of quality sleep this Christmas!
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