India's top tourist attraction, the Taj Mahal, is due to reopen over six months after it was closed, officials said Tuesday, despite the country recording record-breaking spikes in coronavirus cases and deaths.
India had Monday surpassed Brazil as the country with the second-highest coronavirus caseload in the world, with over 4.2 million cases. It is now only behind the United States.
"The Taj Mahal, which was closed in mid-March just ahead of the nationwide lockdown, will reopen on September 21," regional tourism department official Amit Srivastava said.
"Tourists will have to follow all Covid-19 protocols, like physical distancing, wearing masks and sanitizing hands," he said, adding the tickets would need to be purchased online.
Only 5,000 visitors in two shifts will be allowed entry in a day, down from the daily average of around 25,000.
The stunning white marble edifice, famous as a "monument to love," is located in the northern Uttar Pradesh, among five Indian states worst-hit by the virus.
The Taj Mahal was built in the mid-17th century by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his third and favourite queen, Mumtaz Mahal.
India has lifted lockdown restrictions since mid-May despite an explosion in infections to resuscitate an economy that contracted by almost 24 per cent leading to loss of millions of jobs.
According to experts, it will take several months before the Indian tourism sector sees a revival.
India has recorded the world's highest daily increases in cases for almost a month. On Tuesday, the country registered 1,133 virus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, its highest daily fatalities, since the pandemic began end January.
