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By Alasdair Pal
AGRA, India, 21 September (Reuters) – India reopened its famous monument to love, the Taj Mahal, with the first visitors en masse on Monday, while the government reported 86961 new coronavirus infections, with no symptoms of an increase yet.
A Chinese citizen and a guest of Delhi were among the first to enter the white marble tomb built by a century-old Mughal emperor for his wife when it opened at dawn, ending six months of closure.
The number of daily visitors was limited to 5,000, compared to an average of 20,000 before the pandemic. Tickets are only sold online, with less than 300 purchased on the first day.
Visitors will see their temperature read and follow the recommendation to stay away from each other.
“We follow all coVID-19 protocols,” said Vasant Swarnkar, superintendent of the Indian Archaeological Service, who oversees the Taj in the northern city of Agra, among other ancient monuments.
The number of coronaviruses in India of 5. 49 million infections is behind the United States with 6. 79 million, a figure that the Country of South Asia could surpass in the coming weeks at its current rate of increase.
The death toll of 87,882 increased to 1,130 from the previous day to Ministry of Health figures.
But as a proportion of its population, India’s casualties remain low for countries such as the United States, Brazil and Britain.
Facing the innerest economic downturn in decades, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is pushing the anti-virus brake so jobs and businesses can resume.
“We can for another 4 to six months: after that, we’ll have to take serious calls,” said Abid Naqvi, who saw bookings at his boutique hotel fall to 0 overnight after India’s brutal blockade in March.
Until then, the 13-room Villa Ekaa, which opened in Agra last year with a charge of approximately $1 million, operated almost at full capacity.
Tourism contributed about $240 billion, or 9. 2% of India’s gross domestic product in 2018, and employed more than 42 million people, according to the knowledge of the World Travel and Tourism Council.
However, foreign tourists must return at least until April, said Manu PV, secretary of the Association of Tourism Trade Organizations of India (ATTOI), a month that historically ends the tourist season.
And a confusing formula of regional blockade and quarantine regulations deters domestic tourists.
“People don’t need to go on vacation,” he added. They’re very worried. There’s the concern factor. “
(Interactive chart that tracks global coronavirus: https://graphics. reuters. com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/)
(Information through Alasdair Pal; Saurabh Sharma’s additional report in Lucknow; Edited through Sanjeev Miglani and Clarence Fernandez)