SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to reopen temples and restart inter-state buses including volvos with 50 per cent capacity from July 1, an official spokesperson said.

The decision was taken in a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to review the Covid-19 situation, he added.

Religious places are allowed to open from July 1 for 'darshan' with the condition that they follow requisite social distancing norms, regular sanitisation and Covid appropriate behaviour as per the SOPs issued by the Department of Language, Art and Culture, Himachal Pradesh, a state government notification said.

"No kirtan, bhajan, jagratas etc. shall be permissible," it added.

It was also decided to discontinue the requirement of e-pass from July 1, the spokesperson added.

Besides, the decision to open government offices with 100 per cent capacity from July was also taken in the meeting.

It has also been decided that all shops would remain open from 9 am to 8 pm while restaurants would be allowed to open till 10 pm.

Social gatherings would be allowed up to 50 per cent of the total indoor capacity with maximum 50 people, whereas maximum 100 people would be allowed in outdoor gatherings.

Further, the cabinet approved the formula for calculation of Class 12 theory marks on the basis of 10 per cent weightage to Class 10, 15 per cent weightage to Class 11 results and 55 per cent weightage to 1st, 2nd terms and pre-board examinations and 5 per cent weightage to English subject results and 15 per cent weightage to internal assessment.

The results of Class 12 would be declared by July 3, the spokesperson added.

The cabinet also approved to grant one month vacation in schools from June 26 to July 25 in summer closing areas.

Kullu district will have vacation for 23 days from July 23 to August 14.

Besides, Lahaul-Spiti district will have one month vacation from July 1 to July 31.

Teachers in the winter closing areas would start attending schools from July 1.

However, online classes for students would continue, he added.

Five more people died of COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh, taking the death toll to 3,437, while 188 fresh cases pushed the infection count to 2,00,791, an official said on Tuesday.

According to the state health department, the active cases have now dipped to 2,276.

The overall recoveries so far have reached 1,95,055 with 314 patients recuperating from the infection in the last 24 hours, the official said.