All centrally-protected mouuments in the country, including Taj Mahal in Agra and Red fort and Qutub Minar in the national capital, are set to reopen for tourists from wednesday. Due to the surge in coronvirus cases in April, the culture ministry had announced closure of all monuments maintained by the Archaeological survey of india till may 31. With the case counts appearing to be under better control now, ASI, in a fresh order, said all monuments and museums will be thrown open to public. Culture minister Prahlad Patel, however, sounded a word of caution and said visitors will need to follow all Covid-19 related protocols. The order to open will apply to all 3,789 monuments and 50 museums rum by ASI. Last year too, ASI ordered closure of protected monuments and museums and reopened them. Mandating Covid protocols such as compulsory wearing of mask, a cap on the number of visitors and social distancing. While ASI sais the opening of the monuments will be done in "strict compliance" with orders issued by the state or local authorities, norms and will be issued by the Union and states regarding the flow of tourists to be allowed. The project to develop virucidal masks received financial support from TDB in may last year as part of its search for novel solutions to fight covid. Thereafter an agreement was signed on july 8, 2020 for developing virucidal masks. Pune-based thincr technologies india private ltd, which developed these virucidal masks. Thincr technologies has now applied for a patent for the product whose commercial production has started. Around 6,000 of such masks have been distributed by an NGO to four government hospitals in Nandurbar and nashik in maharashtra and bengaluru for use by health care workers. With this total units with CISF security cover have risen to 351 as on date.
