In pictures: Business resumes as lockdowns gradually ease around the world

• A hairdresser’s in Houston, Texas, installed screens to separate customers.

• At the Gare du Nord in Paris, markers on the platforms keep commuters two metres apart while waiting for trains.

• In Brussels, a Mercedes car dealership uses wheels to help social distancing.

Lockdown is loosening a little in some parts of the world. For many, it means a chance to get out and do things once considered mundane. And for struggling businesses, it’s a welcome respite. But measures to throttle the spread of the coronavirus have transformed many everyday activities. Here is a snapshot of how people and companies around the world are adjusting.

On the move

Grabbing a sandwich or a coffee, maybe on the way into work or during your lunch break, has often meant waiting in line. These customers in the Netherlands are using over-sized yellow circles that extend out into the parking lot to wait their turn.

Social distance queuing at McDonalds.Image: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

It could be that circles are the new way of helping people stand a safe distance apart. Here at the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris, they are in use on the platforms.

Please move down the platform - Paris' Gare du Nord.Image: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Eating out

Many restaurants and bars may struggle to remain commercially viable if they have to make substantial cuts to the number of customers they can serve at a time. This café in Thailand has adopted a pulley system to pass customers their food and drinks.

Good to go.Image: REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa

And in Hong Kong, customers at this café have a lot more space between them than they used to.

Tables and chairs are taped up to keep social distancing at a Starbucks coffee shop.Image: REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Being served

In some countries, you still can’t get your hair cut. But you can if you live in Texas. This salon in Houston has a partition between clients, and the staff wear masks and gloves.

Clean cleaning.Image: REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare

In Jakarta, these people wait in line to use an automated rice-dispensing machine.

People wearing protective face masks practice social distancing while receiving rice from an automated rice distributor.Image: REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana

This bank in Tokyo has deployed lots of screening, while both staff and customers are wearing face masks.

Tokyo bank.Image: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

In Brussels, this Mercedes car dealership has put piles of wheels to good use, helping maintain social distancing while staying on brand.

People stand on social-distancing markers at a Mercedes car dealer.Image: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

This Italian factory, which produces metal bearings, has added social distancing markings to the floor.

Keep right.Image: REUTERS/Massimo Pinca.

And at this car factory in France, plastic barriers have been installed to maintain social distancing.

Workers at this car factory have to keep their distance. Image: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes