‘Open for dining again’

For better and for worse: Relatives of the bride and groom observing physical distancing while wearing face masks as part of Covid-19 pandemic measures during a wedding in Banda Aceh. — AFP

Small shops, streetside restaurants and some shopping malls reopened in the coronavirus-battered nation after the government loosened a shutdown despite warnings it could unleash another Covid-19 wave.

President Joko Widodo said on Sunday that a partial lockdown imposed in early July would continue until Aug 2 even as the highly infectious Delta variant tears across the vast archipelago nation, which has overtaken India and Brazil to become the global pandemic epicentre.