HARIDWAR, India (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of ashes clad in ashes and devout Hindus threw themselves into the Ganges for a bath on Wednesday during a religious festival, hoping to wash away their sins as India reported a new rise record of coronavirus infections.
As the huge crowds headed for the river on a special bathing day during the “Kumbh Mela” festival for several weeks, the health authorities had to withdraw a COVID-19 test crew.
“We removed our sampling team to avoid a fingerprint-like situation,” said SK Jha, chief physician of the northern city of Haridwar, where the event is taking place.
“Of course, we expect cases to occur when priests and other crowds move away.”
Police said 650,000 followers bathed in the river on Wednesday morning and people were fined for not noticing social distancing in some areas.
Infections in the city have already risen to more than 500 a day since Kumbh Mela, or the jug festival, officially began this month, at just 25-30 last month, Jha said. The hotels have become isolated shelters for those found infected by a team of 300 medical staff who perform 40,000 randomized tests daily.
The new COVID-19 cases in India reached a record 184,372 in the last 24 hours, more than double the figure at the beginning of the month.
However, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused to cancel the festival, which is scheduled to last a whole month, possibly fearing a backlash from religious leaders in the Hindu-majority country.
“It is already a super-spreader because there is no room to test hundreds of thousands in a crowded city and the government has neither the facilities nor the workforce,” said a senior official in Uttarakhand, where Haridwar is located.
Devout Hindus believe that bathing in the holy Ganges absolves people of sin and, during the Kumbh Mela, brings salvation from the cycle of life and death.
A short distance from the river, Sachin International Hotel had been transformed into a COVID isolation center. All 72 rooms were packed with more than 150 patients, a hotel manager said.
“We started receiving patients on April 5 and three days ago all our rooms were filled,” the employee said, refusing to be identified due to a gag order from local authorities.
The hotel did not respond to an email requesting comments. A doctor in the region said at least four other hotels had been turned into COVID wards.
“What you see is not Kumbh Mela, but a crown atomic bomb,” wrote Indian filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma’s tweet, alongside an image of a sea of followers. “I wonder who will be responsible for this viral explosion.”
Reporting by Anushree Fadnavis and Neha Arora; Additional reporting by Saurabh Sharma; Edited by Krishna N. Das and Giles Elgood