New Delhi, June 8: Places of worship including temples, churches, mosques and Gurdwaras reopened across India on Monday. Restrictions that were imposed for COVID-19 lockdown have been eased, to bring back life to normalcy. Devotees thronged in large numbers to these religious places after a gap of more than two months to pay obeisance. The Centre has allowed the opening of the religious places across the country from June 8 with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in place. Unlock 1.0: Malls, Religious Places, Restaurants And Hotels to Open Doors to Public in Several States From Today.

All the religious places have been taking all precautions to check the spread of COVID-19. People were seen wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing norms while offering prayers. All the religious places have made arrangements for prayers while ensuring that social distancing is maintained. Some religious places also plan to organise prayers in shifts to avoid crowding.

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In Punjab, devotees visit Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar to offer prayers

In Delhi, Fatehpuri Masjid reopened for devotees on Monday with certain precautionary measures

In Karnataka, devotees thronged to Sharana Basaveshwara Temple in Kalaburagi

In Gujarat, ISKCON Temple reopened for devotees with token system

In Karnataka, devotees visit Saint Mary’s Church in Shivaji Nagar in Bengaluru to offer prayers.

In Uttarakhand, prayers being offered at Mata Vaishno Devi Gufa Yog Mandir in Dehradun.

Devotees were seen worshiping at the Chhatarpur temple in Delhi 

In May, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had said that 'Unlock-1' will be initiated from June 8, which would bring relaxations to a great extent in accordance with the Centre's guidelines. Starting June 8, the government had announced that States/UTs can open shopping malls, restaurants, hotels and religious places, even as strict restrictions will be in place till June 30 in the country.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 08, 2020 11:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).