Following months of closure, limited numbers of movie goers were allowed back into cinemas Monday in cities such as Shanghai, Hanzhou and Guilin where the risk of virus infection is considered low. Customers wore masks, left open seats between them and observed other safety precautions.

At Shanghai’s Tianshan theater, an audience gathered for a showing of the Chinese-made feature “A First Farewell.”

Workers were disinfecting and polishing at theaters in Beijing, which on Sunday downgraded its emergency response level after seeing no new cases of local infection in 14 days.

Conferences, exhibitions, sports events, performances and cinemas are expected to reopen gradually after passing risk appraisals and with “necessary prevention measures,” Chen Bei, the city government deputy secretary-general, told reporters.

    A woman adjusts her face mask as she walks by a graffiti artwork on display outside a mall in Beijing, Monday, July 20, 2020. China's latest coronavirus outbreak has spread to a second city in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

      A worker wearing mask to curb the spread of the coronavirus waits to guide visitors to a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in Beijing on Monday, July 20, 2020. China has managed to contain the coronavirus outbreak even as the numbers of infection surge around the world. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

        People wearing face masks to protect against the new coronavirus walk by a capsule shape shop lots inside a mall in Beijing, Monday, July 20, 2020. China’s latest coronavirus outbreak has spread to a second city in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

        At Shanghai’s Tianshan theater, an audience gathered for a showing of the Chinese-made

        Chinese are enthusiastic movie goers and the country was expected to surpass the U.S. this year as the world’s biggest box office before the pandemic hit.

        The cinema re-openings come as China is relaxing many restrictions while maintaining mask wearing, temperature checks and social distancing. A cluster of cases in the far western region of Xinjiang is China’s only current outbreak of domestic infections, and mandatory two-week quarantines remain in effect for Chinese arriving from abroad to guard against imported cases.

          • Slide 1 of 44: Spectators maintain social distancing rules as they attend an opera at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, on May 26, 2020, after a two-month closure aimed at stemming the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus. - (Photo by DENIS LOVROVIC / AFP) (Photo by DENIS LOVROVIC/AFP via Getty Images)

        Slide 2 of 44: A person wearing a protective face mask ski at Ski Dubai during the reopening of malls, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 28, 2020. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

          Slide 3 of 44: Dj Joules feat. saxophonist Martin Scheran perform on a platform atop the Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel, one day ahead of its reopening after lockdown at Prater amusement park, during the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, May 28, 2020. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

              Even as the world continues to battle the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, several countries, where the daily growth of new infections has reduced, are beginning to take tentative steps to ease lockdown measures in order to allow citizens to move freely for the first time in weeks and to revive the economy. Click through to take a look at photos showing how countries are slowly and cautiously trying to return to normalcy.

              (Pictured) Spectators maintain social distancing rules as they attend an opera at the Croatian National Theatre, which opened after two months, in Zagreb, Croatia, on May 26, 2020.

              Note: Steps taken by countries to put the lockdown into reverse are subject to change/modifications. The slideshow is updated as of May 31.

              Economic activity has gradually recovered and China reported an unexpectedly strong 3.2% expansion in its GDP during the latest quarter after lockdowns were lifted and factories and stores reopened.

              That made China the first economy to resume economic growth since the pandemic began in its central city of Wuhan. The 6.8% contraction in January-March was the country’s worst downturn since at least the mid-1960s.