The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday announced that the pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi temple will resume on August 16, nearly five months after it was suspended in view of the coronavirus outbreak, ANI reported.

Under the guidelines issued by the administration, only 500 pilgrims will be allowed to visit the shrine per day. Besides this, the registration of pilgrims will be only done online, in order to avoid the assembly of large people.

The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, which manages the temple, told the news agency it had begun preparations of the resumption of the yatra months in advance. The temple premises are being regularly sanitised and all the norms laid down by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19 have been established, it said.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 19,302 coronavirus cases, including 509 deaths as of Friday, according to the Union health ministry. India, meanwhile, reported 64,553 new cases in 24 hours on Friday, taking its tally to 24,61,190. The toll rose by 1,007 to 64,553.

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