NEW DELHI – Hundreds of people have tested positive for Covid-19 in India at the site of the world’s biggest religious festival, said officials today, as huge crowds of mostly maskless Hindu devotees descended on the River Ganges.
The coronavirus was detected in more than 1,000 people in just 48 hours in the city of Haridwar, which lies along the holy river where the Kumbh Mela is being observed, said officials.
A new wave of infections is sweeping across the country, with experts blaming massive religious events, packed political rallies in election-bound states, and crowded public places.
The government today postponed high school examinations for students aged between 15 and 18 that were to be held in May and June amid the resurgence of the virus.
Despite rising cases, pilgrims have gathered in huge numbers to take part in the holy celebration.
On Monday and yesterday, worshippers were cheek by jowl as they packed the river’s banks to take a dip in the waters as part of a bathing ritual.
“Our faith is the biggest thing for us. It is because of that strong belief that so many people have come here to take a dip in the Ganga,” Siddharth Chakrapani, a member of one of the Kumbh Mela organising committees, told AFP.
“They believe that Maa (mother) Ganga will save them from this pandemic.”
Of some 50,000 samples taken from people in Haridwar, 408 tested positive on Monday and 594 yesterday, said the Uttarakhand state government.
The latest figures come as Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, tweeted today that he has tested positive for Covid-19.
India overtook Brazil this week to become the country with the second-highest number of infections in the world.
The vast nation of 1.3 billion people today reported more than 184,000 cases in the past 24 hours – the biggest single-day rise since the start of the pandemic – to take the total to almost 13.9 million.
India’s daily death toll passed 1,000 today for the first time since mid-October last year.
Local authorities have imposed night curfews, and clamped down on movement and activities.
In the financial capital of Mumbai, where the Maharashtra state government has imposed tougher lockdown measures, migrant workers at a train station said they are leaving for their homes in other states after the tighter restrictions were announced.
“Since I don’t have any work, I am not able to pay my rent,” said worker Imraan Khan. – AFP, April 14, 2021
