Watch: Sabarimala temple reopens for monthly pooja, devotees barred 

The Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala opened on Sunday for the monthly five- day pooja for the Malayalam month of Chingam. However, only priests are allowed in the premises and inside the temple as there is a bar on devotees due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The temple will remain open till August 21 and only the usual rituals will be conducted, the Travancore Devaswom Board said. The temple board has already asked devotees to carry Covid-19 negative certificates when they visit the shrine for darshan during the over two month-long pilgrim season that begins from November 16. While the Central government had eased restrictions for religious places, many chose to delay the reopening in view of the rise in cases in their respective states. Kerala on Sunday itself reported over 1,500 Covid-19 cases for the fourth straight day, taking the tally to 44,415. 53 of the fresh cases are among health workers. Active cases in the state stand at 15,310 while over 28,000 people have recovered from Covid in the state. Watch the full video for all the details.