New Delhi (AFP)

India's main tourist attraction, Taj Mahal, will reopen on September 21 with strict health restrictions, after more than six months of closure due to the coronavirus crisis, authorities said on Tuesday, as the country faces a outbreak of contaminations.

"The Taj Mahal will reopen on September 21", told AFP Amit Srivastava, deputy director of the Ministry of Tourism of the state of Uttar Pradesh (north).

"All protocols related to Covid-19 disease, such as masks or physical distancing, will be applied."

He said the number of visitors will be limited to 5,000 per day, against the usual average of some 20,000 people.

The Taj Mahal, a marble mausoleum built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631, had closed in mid-March due to the pandemic.

India, the second most populous country in the world with 1.3 billion inhabitants, overtook Brazil on Monday to rank second in the world in number of cases (4.2 million), behind the United States.

Uttar Pradesh, where the city of Agra is located, which has the Taj Mahal among its monuments, is one of the most affected Indian states, with more than 270,000 cases recorded so far.

India, which has recorded daily world records for the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases since August, is nevertheless working to try to revive its activities, while its economy has suffered severely from the health crisis.

© 2020 AFP