India eases lockdown, opening restaurants and malls

Move comes amid worries it could cause coronavirus infections to jump further

India is easing its coronavirus lockdown by allowing certain facilities, including shopping malls and restaurants, to reopen in a bid to boost consumption in the hard hit economy. In this photo people are shown lining up outside a mall in Kolkata in March before the the lockdown began. © AP

MOYURU BABA, Nikkei staff writer

June 8, 2020 22:04 JST

TOKYO -- India on Monday began a gradual lifting of its nationwide coronavirus lockdown by first allowing restaurants, hotels and shopping malls to reopen in a bid to boost an economy hard hit by deep declines in spending.

But with infections still rising in the country, there is concern that the easing measures could end up accelerating the number of COVID-19 cases in the nation home to 1.3 billion people.