The Mughal period monument is the most visited in India with additional than seven million visitors viewing the UNESCO Earth Heritage Site last 12 months [Pawan Sharma/AFP]
India will near the legendary Taj Mahal – a UNESCO Earth Heritage Site – to people from Tuesday as part of steps to try and fight the coronavirus pandemic, the tourism ministry stated on Monday.
“All ticketed monuments and all other museums have been directed to be closed right until March 31,” Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel tweeted late on Monday.
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Most educational institutions and enjoyment services, such as cinemas, have presently been closed across India, the world’s 2nd-most populous region with 1.3 billion people today, in accordance to the AFP news agency.
The South Asian nation has documented 114 cases of an infection and two fatalities from the virus. But authorities say India’s presently overstretched medical technique would battle to deal with a major increase in severe cases.
On Sunday, India’s Key Minister Narendra Modi proposed environment up an unexpected emergency fund to combat the coronavirus pandemic in South Asia, with New Delhi giving $10m to get it likely, Reuters news agency documented.
“Any of us can use the fund to satisfy the cost of fast actions,” Modi told the other leaders of the South Asian Affiliation for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – by means of online video convention.
Although coronavirus infections have remained reduced in South Asia so much, Pakistan has observed a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in current times, with 184 contaminated with the virus.
Around the world, the range of fatalities has handed six,500 with additional than 168,000 infections in 142 nations and territories.
‘Jewel of Muslim art’
The UN cultural agency UNESCO calls the white-marble Taj the “jewel of Muslim art”. US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania visited the site last thirty day period in the course of his official go to to India.
The Taj Mahal, developed by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century, attracted additional than seven million people in the 12 months 2018-2019, earning a earnings of Rs 86 crore ($eleven.6m).
India has also suspended all incoming visitors and will bar non-Indian passengers on flights from the European Union, the European Totally free Trade Affiliation, Turkey and the United Kingdom from Wednesday.
Travellers coming from or transiting by the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait are needed to go through a fourteen-working day quarantine when they arrive in India, the government declared on Monday.
Arrivals from China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, France, Spain and Germany are presently subject matter to equivalent limitations, although most border factors with neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar have been shut.
In Mumbai, unions concerned with its Bollywood film market – a single of the most significant in the world – stated they would stop all function right until the close of March.
The closure of the Taj Mahal, the most-visited site in India, came as the central lender, after an unexpected emergency meeting, stated on Monday it would enhance funds injections into financial marketplaces by a single trillion rupees ($thirteen.5bn) to tackle the financial impact of the pandemic.
The Reserve Financial institution of India also declared a further spherical of overseas-currency swaps to inject $2bn into the current market to stabilise the rupee, which fell to history lows last 7 days.
Resource: Al Jazeera and news agencies
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