But this year, India's Kumbh Mela -- the largest pilgrimage on Earth -- is drawing alarm, with some authorities warning of a potential mass Covid-19 outbreak if crowds gather and bathe together without masks.
"We will issue for to start sometime in the third week of February," and run through the end of April, said Madan Kaushik, Uttarakhand Minister for Urban Development and Housing. Within those few months, there will be four days designated for people to dip into the Ganges, he said. As the first throngs of people dipped into the waters, authorities braced for the potential of a super-spreader event, with the country still reporting between up to 20,000 new Covid-19 cases a day.
"Covid protocols will have to be implemented during this, even a bit of looseness can cause damage," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 11. Devotees coming from outside the city will need to go through thermal scanning and random test sampling, said Haridwar Additional District Magistrate KK Mishra on Thursday. District administrators have been deployed throughout the city to raise awareness, and provide safety training for shopkeepers and business owners, he said.
There's also no guarantee that people will wait until the official start date. The significant religious dates are based on planets' astrological positions, so devotees could well travel to the Ganges on those dates for the holy baths, regardless of authorities' approval.Authorities have good reason to be nervous. Around the world, several religious gatherings have caused Covid-19 clusters, some spreading beyond their community to the entire nation.
But the Muslim group's gathering was met with a much stronger fallout and public hostility than the instances in other countries, largely due to India's long-standing Muslim-Hindu tensions, which ratcheted up alongside fear and paranoia during the pandemic.
People can continue their pilgrimage just keep safe and aware that pandemic is not yet over.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.