[ad_1]
AGRA: The Taj Mahal reopens to visitors on Monday (September 21) in a symbolic gesture to carry on as usual, even as India appears set to surpass the US as a world leader in coronavirus infections.
India, home to 1.3 billion people and some of the most populous cities in the world, has recorded more than 5.4 million cases of COVID-19. About 100,000 new infections and more than 1,000 deaths are reported daily.
But after a strict shutdown in March that devastated the livelihoods of tens of millions of people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reluctant to copy other nations and re-adjust activity.
Instead, in recent months, his government has increasingly eased restrictions, including many train routes, domestic flights, markets, restaurants, and now visiting the Taj Mahal.
READ: Comment: Why the risk of contracting COVID-19 may be higher in some places
The world famous white marble mausoleum in the city of Agra south of New Delhi is the most popular tourist site in India. It usually attracts 7 million visitors a year, but has been closed since March.
Authorities say that when it reopens, strict social distancing rules will be imposed and the number of daily visitors will be limited to 5,000, a quarter of the normal rate. Tickets can only be purchased online.
“Circles are being drawn, the mask would be a must and no one could enter without a heat shield,” Vasant Swarnkar, a senior archaeologist in charge of the Agra monuments, told reporters.
“LOCKDOWN FATIGUE”
However, in other places, particularly in rural areas where infections are increasing, anecdotal evidence suggests that government guidelines to avoid the virus are more often ignored than adhered to.
“I think that, not just in India but around the world, fatigue is building with the extreme measures that were taken to restrict the growth of the coronavirus,” said Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University, and predicted that infections continues to increase as a result.
READ: India will lend 250 million dollars to Maldives affected by virus
Many experts say that even though India is testing more than a million people a day, this is still not enough and the actual number of cases may be much higher than officially reported.
The same is true of deaths, which currently number more than 86,000, and many of them are not properly recorded even in normal times in one of the world’s worst funded healthcare systems.
However, there is some resistance to Modi’s unlocking of the world’s second-most populous country, which saw its economy shrink by almost a quarter between April and June.
READ: India Considers Emergency Vaccine Clearance As COVID-19 Cases Rise
Schools were supposed to resume on Monday voluntarily for students aged 14 to 17, but many Indian states like Maharashtra and Gujarat have said it is still too early.
“Cases continue to increase rapidly … I have no idea how we can reopen educational institutions now,” said West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee.
In other places, schools refuse to open or parents are wary of sending their children.
“I am prepared for my son to miss an academic year by not going to school instead of risking sending him,” said Nupur Bhattacharya, mother of a nine-year-old in Bangalore.
CHECK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
