Huge gathering at India’s Hindu festival raises health concerns as virus surges
Tens of thousands of Hindu devotees have gathered by the Ganges River for special prayers, many of them flouting social distancing practices as coronavirus spreads in India with record speed.
The Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, is one of the most sacred pilgrimages in Hinduism.
The faithful congregate in the northern city of Haridwar and take a dip in the waters of the Ganges, which they believe will absolve them of their sins and deliver them from the cycle of birth and death.
Thekumbhmela,whichruns through April, comes during India'sworstsurgeinnewinfectionssincethepandemicbegan, withaseven-dayrollingaverage ofmorethan130,000newcases per day.
Hospitals are becoming overwhelmed with patients, and experts worry the worst is yet to come.
Critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindunationalist Bharatiya Janata Party say the festival has been allowed at a time when infections are skyrocketing because thegovernmentisnotwillingto anger Hindus, who are the party's biggest supporters.
With the surge showing no sign of slowing, India's confirmedinfectionssincethepandemicbegansurpassedbrazil's total on Monday to make it the second-worsthitcountryinthe world.
The current surge has hit hardest in Western Maharashtra state, home to the financial capital Mumbai.
The state has accounted for nearly half of the country's new infectionsinthepasttwoweeks.
Amid concerns the Kumbh Mela festival could turn into a superspreader event, Uttarakhand state's chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat last week said "the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus".
Health experts had appealed for the festival to be cancelled, but the government went ahead,sayingsafetyruleswould be followed.
There are concerns that pilgrims could get infected and then take the virus back to their cities and villages in other parts of the country.
Authorities in Haridwar said the length of the festival has been shortened from previous years, but it has been extremely difficulttoimplementsocialdistancing measures.
Coronavirus tests are mandatory for those entering the area.
"We are appealing to people to follow Covid-19-appropriate behaviour. But due to the huge crowd,itispracticallynotpossible,"seniorpoliceofficersanjay Gunjyal said.
Government critics have compared the government's response to the festival with the response last year when Indian
Muslims faced rising Islamophobia following accusations thataninitialsurgeininfections was tied to a three-day meeting ofanislamicmissionarygroup, the Tablighi Jamaat.
Some leaders from Mr Modi's party and India's freewheeling TV channels, which have long favoured Hindu-nationalist policies, labelled Muslims as "jihadis" and "super spreaders" in March 2020 when the sevenday rolling average of coronavirus cases in the country was noteven200perday.theblame triggeredviolence,boycottsand hate speech towards Muslims.