After 75 days, religious places, malls open with strict rules

With a prayer on its lips, India on Monday began “unlocking” itself by cautiously reopening religious places, shopping malls and restaurants after 75 days of strict lockdown to arrest the rising cases of novel coronavirus.

On March 24, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the first nationwide 21-day lockdown, the number of positive cases in the country were 519, and 10 people had died.

On Monday, with 9,983 new cases being reported in 24 hours, the number of infections across the country now stands at 2,56,611, and with

271 fatalities in a day, the nation-wide death toll is

7,200. India’s recovery rate, however, is 48.49 per cent.

Amid extensive do’s and don’ts, that include sanitisation tunnels, temperature checks, entry on the basis of tokens, no prasad and no trying out of clothes, people were back on roads and in public places.

Despite the fear of coronavirus infection, a steady stream of devotees thronged several temples, gurudwaras, mosques and churches to offer prayers across the country while maintaining social distancing.

Religious places witnessed large gatherings, and metro cities witnessed heavy traffic on roads as several offices in the private sector too reopened after a long gap, shopping malls and restaurants largely wore a deserted look.

In some places, temple bells were wrapped in cloth and in gurudwaras people avoided taking a dip in the “sarovar”.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was among several devotees who offered prayers at Gorakhnath Temple on Monday while Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya opened with all precautions in place. Only five people are allowed to pay obeisance at a time and that too 15 metres away from the idol of Ram Lalla.

Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have decided to keep malls and places of worship closed for now, and Kerala is scheduled to open religious places on Tuesday.

In Haryana, barring Gurgaon and Faridabad, the districts worst-hit by coronavirus, religious places and shopping malls reopened but there were few visitors.