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FILE PHOTO: A police officer wearing a protective mask directs local residents as they walk through a checkpoint, set up to lock down the city to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan May 11, 2020. REUTERS/Pavel Mikheyev/File Photo

Kazakhstan to ease lockdown next week

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - Kazakhstan will take down police checkpoints between its regions next week and reopen kindergartens and gyms as it moves to ease its coronavirus lockdown, the government said on Friday.

The Central Asian republic, which has reported 9,932 cases of the new coronavirus and 37 deaths, plans also to restart railway transport in big cities and regional centres from June 1, as well as long-distance bus routes.

Sports and cultural facilities will also reopen, but spectators will not yet be allowed, the prime minister’s website said.

Authorities plan to open cinemas from June 15 and are considering resuming flights to and from South Korea, China, and Azerbaijan, and then subsequently to and from the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Turkey and Thailand.