JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia is evaluating whether to end COVID-19 restrictions on movement as planned or extend them, as the country battles with a surge of new infections and a crumbling economy, senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Saturday. Fueled by the spread of the more virulent Delta variant, Indonesia has reported more new coronavirus cases than any country in the world, data from the latest seven-day average from a Reuters tracker showed. Southeast Asia's largest economy earlier this month slashed its full-year GDP outlook taking into account the restrictions. The country's finance minister Sri Mulyani told the conference that Indonesia will expand its COVID-19 recovery budget to 744.74 trillion rupiah ($51.38 billion) from 699.43 trillion rupiah. As Indonesia repeatedly reported record infections and COVID-19 deaths in recent weeks, health experts are calling the country Asia's new epicentre for the virus.

Source: The Star July 17, 2021 13:41 UTC