Covid-19 -ve certificate must for Sabarimala visit

Incidentally, Madhya Pradesh Assembly had to cancel its monsoon session convened on July 20 to protect the members from contracting the virus.

Meanwhile, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday announced that he tested negative for coronavirus.

Mr Chouhan who tested positive for the virus on July 25 and was later admitted to a hospital here, has been in self-isolation in his official residence since he was discharged from hospital on August 5.

In a twitter post, Mr Chouhan informed that his latest samples tested negative for coronavirus. He was going to end his home quarantine on Wednesday.

Earlier, MP state minister Arvind Bhadoria and state BJP president V.D. Sharma were admitted to a hospital here last fortnight after testing positive for coronavirus.

They were discharged from hospital last week and put in home quarantine for a week.

Madhya Pradesh has recorded 40,020 coronavirus positive cases and

1,015 deaths by Tuesday afternoon. As many as

29,674 Covid-19 patients in MP have so far recovered.

Indore continues to top the charts of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh recording 8,724 confirmed cases. The city has recorded 333 deaths till now.

Indore is followed by Bhopal which reported

7,770 confirmed cases and

220 deaths so far.

Pilgrims visiting Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala will have to carry Covid-19 negative certificates during the Mandala pilgrimage season beginning from November 16.

A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting through a video conference, chaired by Kerala Devaswom (temple affairs) minister Kadakampally Surendran the other day. The darshan will be allowed only through a virtual queue system. Covid negative certificates will be mandatory for online registration for the virtual queue system.

The meeting observed that the pilgrimage is going to be challenging this year due Covid-19. Therefore only a limited number of pilgrims would be allowed while strictly adhering to Covid-19 protocol. Social distancing norms and safety protocols will be complied with

Forty-six out of the total

52 districts in the state have recorded more than

100 coronavirus positive cases.

All the 52 districts in the state have been affected by the pandemic. while allowing darshan at the sanctum sanctorum.

The state government and Devaswom Board would seek the cooperation of neighboring states from where a large number of devotees visit Sabarimala, to ensure

Covid-19 protocol is implemented strictly.

The meeting convened by the devaswom minister was a preparatory one. Another high level meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan later, which will take the final call on arrangements for the pilgrimage season.

In view of the current

Covid-19 situation, the health department has decided to scale up medical facilities at Sannidhanam, Nilakkal and Pamba. The government

As on Tuesday, Chhattisgarh has reported 12,625 coronavirus positive cases and 99 deaths.

Raipur has topped the chart of coronavirus positive cases in Chhattisgarh recording 4,100 confirmed will explore the possibility of the taking over Amritha Hospital in the area for arranging emergency medical facilities for the devotees.

Meanwhile, Kerala on Tuesday recorded 1,417 cases of Covid-19 even as

1,426 people recovered from the infection.

The total number of cases in the state has reached 36,568 of which

12,723 are active cases. Of the new cases, 1,242 contracted the infection through contact, source of infection among 105 is not known, 62 came from abroad, 72 from other states and 36 health care workers also got infected.

At a press conference here the chief minister said that seven persons died of Covid-19 on Tuesday taking the death toll in the state to 120.

Thiruvananthapuram district recorded the highest number of cases at 291 followed by Malappuram

242, Kozhikode 158, Kasargod 147, Alappuzha 146, Palakkad 141, Ernakulam

133 respectively.

cases.

The capital city has recorded 45 deaths so far.

More than a dozen areas in Raipur city have been identified as coronavirus hotspots and declared containment zones.