4 years ago
The Taj Mahal will once again swing its doors open to tourists from September 21, after six months closure following the coronavirus pandemic, according to a senior district official.
The monument, at Agra in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state, will allow 5,000 visitors per day - 2,500 visitors each in two slots.
It will implement strict social distancing guidelines, according to the operating procedures laid down by district authorities.
"Before the lockdown, the monument had 70,000 visitors on the weekends and about 40,000 on a weekday, but we have to restrict visitors to contain the spread of coronavirus," Vasant Swarnkar, superintendent archaeologist with the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) in Agra told CNN.
While other ASI-protected monuments across the country opened in July, the Taj Mahal remained shut as it fell into a "buffer zone," an area defined by the district authorities as being at higher risk of coronavirus spread if public gatherings were allowed, according to Swarnkar.
Visitors will be provided with e-tickets and must use digital payments, there will be restrictions on crowds forming and group photography. Health checks will be carried out to ensure visitors are always asymptomatic and wearing masks.
The monument will be sanitized at regular intervals.
As of Tuesday, Agra had 3,548 coronavirus cases, including 110 deaths, according to a district health bulletin.
India has registered 4,370,128 cases of the virus with 73,890 deaths and 3,398,844 recoveries as of Wednesday, according to the local ministry of health.
