At the festival, followers wash their sins in the sacred waters of the river, which is believed to turn into “amrita” – the nectar of immortality – on auspicious days, such as Monday.
At least 650,000 people have already taken a bath in the river by early Monday, according to a police inspection. Gender. Sanjay Gunjyal. Throughout the day, an estimated 11,000 to 18,000 people will be in the water at any one time, spread across the 15 main banks of the river, said Mukesh Thakur, a senior police official.
“Social distancing is proving very difficult,” Gunjyal said. “If we try to apply it, then it can lead to a blow – that’s why, despite the desire, we are not able to implement social distancing on these banks of the river.”
He added that the authorities “constantly appeal to people to wear masks and follow appropriate Covid behavior.”
India reported 168,912 new cases on Monday, the highest single-day figure for the sixth straight day, according to the country’s health ministry.
The second wave, which began in March and accelerated rapidly in the last week, far surpassed India’s first wave last year, when 97,000 cases peaked in September.
Trying to contain the risk
In Haridwar, Uttarakhand state, authorities have introduced measures to try to limit the risk during Kumbh Mela.
This includes artificial intelligence cameras on various banks of the river and 15,000 security personnel deployed to handle crowd control, Thakur said.
“The camera has sensors that warn us when the number of cars in parking areas or pedestrian traffic exceeds a certain threshold and we can communicate with people on the ground to start hijacking crowds,” Thakur said. “The cameras also detect if people are not wearing masks, and ground officers immediately issue tickets to those people.”
However, Gunjyal said it was impossible to issue tickets to everyone on Monday because of the large size of the crowd, with photos showing a lot of people defying the rules of wearing the mask.
Other restrictions were aimed at preventing those who have the virus from accessing the festival.
Before entering Haridwar, all those who participated in the festival had to register online and provide a medical certificate confirming their health. Visitors from states with growing infections had to provide negative Covid-19 test results, and checkpoints were set up at transportation centers to perform random tests on people passing through them.
However, all these restrictions may not be enough to prevent the spread of the virus among the masses of people who eat, wash and pray together in the immediate vicinity. Haridwar is already beginning to see an increase in infections; 2,209 cases have been reported in the city since the festival began on April 1, according to data from the Uttarakhand state health department.
“The second wave of coronavirus is underway in the country … and in Uttarakhand, the impact (Covid) has increased, over 500 cases have started to appear daily,” Uttarakhand police director Ashok Kumar told earlier this month, urging people to follow safety guidelines.
“Let’s not let it get to a point where we need a blockage again, because this is bad for everyone.”