NEW DELHI: The Kumbh Mela festival has stoked coronavirus super-spreader fears in India as millions of pilgrims are expected to flock to the Ganges River every day during the month-long celebrations.
Kumbh Mela, which started on Thursday, is the biggest festival of Hinduism, with the faithful coming from across the country to the holy waters for a ritual dip. This year, organizers of the festival in Haridwar in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand expect 150 million people to arrive at the riverbank pilgrimage site, undeterred by the coronavirus outbreak.
India reported 72,330 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, the highest since October, as it is observing a new coronavirus surge. In all, 12.22 million people have contracted the virus in India and 162,927 have died of it.
While the state government has made it obligatory for pilgrims arriving for Kumbh Mela from coronavirus-affected states to present negative COVID-19 results of tests, and for everyone to maintain a safe distance in public places and wear masks, experts say that observing safety protocols may be a challenge.
“There is a great possibility of the event turning out to be a super spreader,” Anoop Nautiyal of Development for Communities Foundation in Uttarakhand, who has been closely tracking the outbreak in Haridwar, told Arab News.
“Implementing the safety protocols is a challenge. How will you check the papers of 50 million people?” he said.
Dr. Dorairaj Prabhakaran, of the Public Health Foundation of India, is also concerned that this year’s Kumbh Mela may turn into a super-spreader event.
“Any kind of gathering will increase the spread of the virus,” he said, “The authorities need to enforce protocols to ensure COVID-19-appropriate behavior to prevent such gatherings from becoming super spreader events.”
A day before the festival started, several dozen coronavirus cases were confirmed at an ashram in the city and a COVID-19 hotspot was detected in neighboring Rishikesh city. Kumbh Mela organizers claim, however, that they have made preparations to keep the festival safe. “We have made all arrangements. We have made a temporary hospital of 613 beds, out of which 150 beds will be fitted with all the facilities like ultrasound, laboratory tests, and there would be facilities for the COVID-19 testing also,” Kumbh Mela chief medical officer Dr. Arjun Singh Senger said. “At the entry point of the festival we have made 10 stalls of six beds where the testing facilities have also been provided,” he said.
The location of the Kumbh Mela festival rotates between four pilgrimage sites: Haridwar on the Ganges in Uttarakhand, Ujjain on the Shipra River in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Nashik on the Godavari River in the western Indian state of Maharashtram and Prayagraj on the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Less than 80 million visited the Kumbh Mela when it was held in Haridwar 11 years ago.
