Last Wednesday, residents of dark-red zone provinces made a dash to restaurants and shopping malls after lockdown restrictions were eased. For businesses like hair salons and massage shops, reopening has restored a vital lifeline after they were forced shut for nearly three months.
But not everyone had reason to cheer. Over the past few months, many small businesses have closed and thrown in the towel, unable to meet costs with a trickle of customers and meagre aid from the government.
While the current phase of reopening is a step in the right direction, there’s still more to be done. The change in the country’s strategy from Covid-zero to “learning to live with Covid-19” comes as the pace of vaccination picks up (nearly 1 million doses were administered in a single day recently) and the case count begins to trend down.
Although it’s still too early to fully…
