The Taj Mahal and Agra Fort will reopen for tourists from September 21, the district magistrate,
Prabhu N Singh, said on Monday. According to media reports, all guidelines issued
by the Centre will have to be followed while visiting the mausoleum and the fort
which includes social distancing and sanitising of hands, Vasant Kumar
Swarnkar, superintending archaeologist of the Archaeological Survey of India
(Agra circle) said.

“Masks are mandatory to
enter the monuments and all tickets must be purchased online. Ticket counters
will not be open,” NDTV quoted Swarnkar as saying.

While the Taj Mahal will allow
only 5,000 tourists a day, 2,500 tourists will be allowed to visit Agra Fort.
The Taj Mahal will allow 2,500 visitors before 2 pm and the rest post two.

The Taj Mahal has around 7
million visitors each year and the Agra Fort has 3 million visitors a year.

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Both the tourist destinations were closed since March 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This move comes after the
Centre announced Unlock 4 last week. According to a report in NDTV, Agra has
650 active cases with 110 deaths and around 2,700 recoveries.

According to the Union
Health Ministry’s tally on Monday, India recorded 90,802 new cases of COVID-19
on Sunday. With this, India has breached the 4.2 million mark. It has recorded
4,204,614 cases, till now.

Also Read | India records over 90,000 COVID-19 cases, surpasses Brazil to become second worst-hit

According to the ministry,
1,016 fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours. 71,642 people have lost
their lives to the virus, till now.

There are 882,542 active
cases in the country. 3,250,429 have been cured/discharged/migrated.