In each slot, a maximum of 1,500 visitors will be allowed, an official told PTI. A very frail number of visitors were witnessed at the Qutab Minar, after it reopened post-Covid lockdown on Monday.

Coronavirus India News Live Updates:

The Centre on Monday said in spite of increased testing, the positivity rate has declined from around 30 per cent to 10 per cent in the last three weeks. The average number of samples being tested per day for Covid-19 in Delhi has risen from 5,481 to 18,766 in about a month, it said.

The government also said that the national positivity rate, percentage of samples testing Covid positive from the total number of samples, has also reduced and now stands at 6.73 per cent. The Union, state and union territory governments have made a joint and coordinated effort to effectively manage the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the Union health ministry said in a statement. The Union government has emphasised on increasing testing, prompt contact tracing and timely clinical management of cases, the statement said.

In a major fillip to the hospitality sector in the state, hotels have been allowed to reopen from July 8 with a 33 per cent cap on number of guests. Restaurants inside hotels too will be allowed to reopen but allowed to only serve hotel guests.

The Maharashtra government on Monday issued an amendment to its May 31 Mission Begin Again order to include hotels that would now be allowed to operate. The order listed “hotels and other entities providing accommodation services including lodges, guesthouses etc., outside contaminants zones, with restricted entry. These establishments will operate at 33 per cent capacity and on conditions specified”.

As per the directives, there should be thermal scanning of guests and reception counters should have protective glass. Pedal-operated sanitiser dispensers should be available across the hotel premises.

One of the passengers waves as they walk along the gangway during the boarding prior the first holiday flight of the Corendon Airlines Europe to the Greek destination Rhodos at the airport Erfurt-Weimar in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday, July 2, 2020. The tourist air traffic was interrupted for several months due to the corona pandemic. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

While currently international air travel is restricted to repatriation missions being flown by Indian as well as foreign carriers, the Centre has indicated that it is in discussions with various countries to establish air bridges. These include the US, Canada and several European countries. The concept of air bridges is based on reciprocity with the said countries allowing Indian citizens to fly into their borders and India allowing their citizens to fly into its borders.

What can be a hurdle in way of establishing international air bridges?

Several countries that have already put in place these air bridges or travel bubbles have done so on the basis of their perception of the ability of the destination country to handle the Covid19 pandemic. For example, New Zealand, which was completely able to contain the disease was establishing a trans-Tasmanian air bubble with other countries that had managed the virus spread. The three Baltic nations of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia had also established an air bubble among themselves with virtually no restrictions on travel. However, the perception of India based on the rising number of cases, especially on account that it has become the country with third highest number of cases, could throw a spanner in the works for the government trying to establish air bridges.