Coronavirus Update: After Red Fort, Taj Mahal shuts down for visitors after four decades

After Delhi’s Red Fort was closed for visitors amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, the Ministry of Tourism has announced the shutdown Agra’s Taj Mahal for visitors from today. The decision to close the doors of this iconic monument has been taken as a part of precautionary measures to mitigate the highly contagious COVID-19. So far, India has recorded over 100 positive cases of this highly contagious virus which has claimed over five thousand lives across the world including three in India.

According to media reports, the iconic monument has been shut down temporarily until the end of this month. "All ASI monuments and central museums will be shut till March 31 in view of the spread of coronavirus. We are taking this very seriously," Prahlad Patel, Union Culture Minister was quoted saying. Indeed, the closure of Taj Mahal will be a big jolt to the domestic tourism of the state as it witnesses a large number of visitors every day. Interestingly, Taj Mahal has been closed for visitors after over four decades. To note, this is the third time in the history of Taj Mahal, that the historical monument was shut down. It first happened during the 1971 Indo-Pak War when the iconic monument was closed for a week. Later, it was shut down for a couple of days during the 1978 floods.

Not only the historical monuments and central museums but school, colleges, cinema halls and even religious places like Siddhivinayak temple and Shirdi temple has also been shut down to combat coronavirus which has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.