After a gap of 223 days, cinema theatres have started screening movies in Andhra Pradesh from Sunday. Cinemas were shut down on March 23 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
Managements of the theatres have taken necessary precautionary measures to ensure safety of the filmgoers as per the Covid-19 protocols.
Each theatre screened a noon and evening show. Occupancy was limited to 50 percent, with only alternate seats being occupied.
As a precautionary measure, all the film tickets were issued only online and entry was enabled through the QR code on mobile phones of those booking for the show.
Thermal screening was done for the audience, masks were made compulsory and sanitisers were provided for cleaning hands.
A 30-minute gap was given between the two shows to ensure sanitisation and disinfection of hall for the subsequent screening.
The managements of the theatres said that occupancy was good and that they were expecting a rise in the numbers in the coming days.
Howeer, ticket prices have not been hiked despite alternate seats being left vacant.
Filmgoers were happy that they were able to get back to theatres after getting bored of watching movies on television sets and mobile phones. Big screens give a different feel, they opined.
This post was last modified on %s = human-readable time difference 2:58 pm
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