Officials claim more than 1,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in two days at the site of a big Hindu festival in India. Massive crowds of largely maskless devotees converge on the Ganges River in the northern state of Uttarakhand.
Officials said the virus was discovered in Haridwar. Haridwar is located along the river on which the weeks-long Kumbh Mela (festival), is taking place. According to the Uttarakhand administration, 408 of the 50,000 samples taken from people in Haridwar tested positive on Monday. Whereas, 594 tested positive on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Yogi Adiyanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh tweeted that he had tested positive. Subsequently, this led to the release of new figures of coronavirus spread. A second outbreak of coronavirus infections has reached India. The country has reached a record peak of 184,372 new cases on Wednesday.
India currently has the second-highest number of COVID-19 infections in the world, with almost 13.9 million cases. For the first time since mid-October, the country\’s daily death toll surpassed 1,000 on Wednesday. In several nations, local governments have enforced night curfews and restricted travel and events.
Nothing Bigger and Stronger than Faith
The reason behind the surge is due to religious gatherings, political protests, and crowded public spaces, according to experts. Hundreds of thousands of ash-smeared ascetics and devout Hindus fought for a chance to bathe in the Ganges during the holy festival on Wednesday. The devotees tried to wash away their sins as India registered yet another record-breaking increase in coronavirus infections.
“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 Ganga”. Stated Siddharth Chakrapani, a member of one of the Kumbh Mela organizing committees.
Health officials had to bring back a COVID-19 research team when large crowds found their way into the river on a special day of bathing during the Kumbh Mela.
Since Wednesday, approximately 650,00 people have bathed in the Ganges. Furthermore, people are being punished for failing to practice social distancing in certain places, according to police.
Danger on its Way
The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the other hand, has declined to call off the month-long festival, likely fearing retaliation from religious leaders in the Hindu-majority region.
Bathing in the Ganges, according to devout Hindus, absolves people of their sins and, during the Kumbh Mela, provides freedom from the circle of life and death.
Located along the coastline, Sachin International Hotel is now a COVID isolation centre. According to a hotel executive, all 72 rooms were full with more than 150 patients.
The Hypocrisy of the Indian State
Critics of the Indian government have compared the government\’s reaction to the festival to the government\’s response last year, when Indian Muslims faced increasing Islamophobia following allegations that an initial increase in infections was linked to a three-day meeting of an Islamic missionary community, the Tablighi Jamaat, in New Delhi.
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