A tentative easing around the world of coronavirus lockdowns gathered pace with the reopening in India of neighbourhood stores that many of the country’s 1.3 billion people rely on for everything from cold drinks to mobile phone data cards.

The relaxation of the super-strict Indian lockdown came with major caveats.

It did not apply to hundreds of quarantined towns and other hotspots that have been hit hardest by the outbreak that has killed at least 775 people in India and terrified its multitudes of poor who live hand-to-mouth in slum conditions too crowded for social distancing.

Read full AP story here.

An Indian fruit vendor wearing a face mask as a precaution against the new coronavirus waits for customers during lockdown in Bangalore, India, Friday, April 24. — AP
An Indian fruit vendor wearing a face mask as a precaution against the new coronavirus waits for customers during lockdown in Bangalore, India, Friday, April 24. — AP

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