More people are stepping out for shopping and recreation than at any point since March 2020, when the pandemic forced a lockdown. The drop in retail and recreation visits relative to pre-Covid levels has narrowed to 16.7 per cent. It was 16.3 per cent on March 21, 2020, three days before the government had announced a national lockdown (see chart 1).

       The numbers are from search engine Google, which tracks people’s movements using anonymised location data. This data is released with a lag and the latest is as of August 11. Power demand continues to grow since Covid-19 lockdowns ended ...