Belur Math, the global headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, will not open its gates from June 1.

Senior monks said a detailed plan was being worked out about how many devotees would be allowed to step in through the gates, the number that would be allowed to visit the temples, how these visitors would be screened for Covid-19 and how many temples would be opened to visitors.

Once the plan is ready, the Math will be opened to devotees. Senior monks said the gates were unlikely to be reopened before a fortnight.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had on Friday said places of worship could reopen from June 1 with a ceiling of 10 devotees at a time.

Belur Math, spread across 40 acres on the western bank of the Hooghly, had shut its gates to devotees on March 15, 10 days before the nationwide lockdown came into force.

Swami Suvirananda, the general secretary of the Math and Mission, told Metro: “We will open the gates to our friends and devotees after all necessary measures, both modern and traditional, have been put in place to check the spread of the coronavirus.”

Primarily, it has been decided that the temples of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda would be opened for darshan. Several other temples such as the old shrine and the temple of Swami Brahmananda, along with the museum, are likely to be off the list even when visitors are allowed on the Math premises.

Devotees will be taken on a tour to the shrines that will be opened and later handed dry prasad. The visitors will then be taken out of the Math in batches.

The visiting time in the morning will be reduced to two hours initially.

Darshan of Swami Smaranananda, the president of the order, will not be allowed in the initial months. Several monks said normal functioning was unlikely to resume before Puja.

“The headquarters also house a monastery where very senior monks live. While ensuring the safety of the visitors, we will also have to ensure the well-being of these monks,” said a senior monk. “So, every aspect of health and hygiene will be taken into consideration before the gates are finally opened.”

Before the lockdown, around 6,000 devotees would visit Belur Math. On Sundays, the count would go up to 10,000. On special days, around 20,000 visitors would turn up.