Indonesia’s health ministry yesterday reported 847 new coronavirus infections and 32 new deaths, taking the total number of cases to 32,033 and fatalities to 1,883.
The South East Asian country has tested more than 274,400 people for the virus, according to a document by its Covid-19 task force.
Some 10,904 patients have recovered, the ministry said. 
Yesterday, authorities eased restrictions further despite the country posting its biggest daily spike in coronavirus infections two days earlier.
Restaurants, shops and transport services were back up and running in the capital.
Offices in Jakarta, the epicentre of Indonesia’s outbreak, were operating with limits on employee numbers while traffic wasted no time in returning to gridlock, with cars bumper-to-bumper and clusters of motorcycles sandwiched between lanes.
After two months without businesses, the easing of curbs was a welcome relief for many, among them Kusnoto, who for 14 years has run a small streetside restaurant.
“Thank God today I can reopen my business, but I’m not sure how the customer traffic will be,” said Kusnoto, 60, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.
His simple restaurant has no hand washing facilities or screens to protect diners, whom he relies on to take their own 
precautions.
“We can just only hope that the customers are willing to be informed to keep their distance, like sitting on different tables for example,” he added.
Indonesia remains the worst-hit country in East Asia outside China. Indonesia has had no national lockdown and cities have been allowed to impose restrictions, though not all are strictly followed.
Eating at Kusnoto’s restaurant, Abdul Rahman, an engineer, said he was happy with what Indonesia calls a new normal, but concerned about public 
complacency.
“I’m quite worried, to be honest,” he said, sitting beside a co-worker. “Many people are just forgetting this existence of coronavirus and think it is over.”