Agra (India) (AFP)

The Taj Mahal, a universal symbol of undying love, reopened to visitors to India on Wednesday amid declining Covid-19 cases, after a two-month shutdown imposed at the height of the second epidemic wave.

In Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the majestic white marble mausoleum stands, some tourist guides and traders wanted to be optimistic at the time of its reopening.

On this first day of recovery, however, tourists were still few in number, especially as the authorities have set the number of admissions allowed each day at 650.

In normal times, crowds flock to admire the Taj Mahal, built between 1631 and 1648, on the initiative of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to perpetuate the memory of his deceased favorite wife.

The funeral monument was closed in mid-April during the second wave of coronavirus which violently hit the country until the peak in May.

Main tourist attraction of the country, this architectural masterpiece of Indo-Islamic art is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Strict sanitary measures remain in use there: it is in particular forbidden to touch the sparkling marble of the monument.

However, this did not tarnish the mood of the first visitors.

"I am very happy to have been able to see him, he is incredible," exclaimed Melissa Dalla Rosa, a Brazilian living in India.

"In fact, I cried when I saw him for the first time," the 40-year-old told AFP, referring to a "very special experience."

The building had already been closed for the first time in March 2020, at the start of the global pandemic, only to reopen in September.

"The second wave of Covid has passed. By the third, I'm finished," Lucky Feizan, a 20-year-old trader told AFP.

The total number of daily infections has been decreasing in the country in recent weeks, prompting several major cities, including the capital New Delhi and Mumbai, to ease restrictions on travel and commercial activity.

India has registered 62,224 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

There were still more than 400,000 daily contaminations in May, at the height of the second epidemic wave.

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In total, the country has officially recorded 379,573 deaths and 29.63 million infections since the start of the pandemic but many experts believe that the real toll is certainly much higher.

© 2021 AFP