Tens of thousands of Hindu devotees have arrived in the Indian state of West Bengal ahead of an annual religious festival, raising concerns over the spread of Covid-19 as cases across the country continue to surge.
The devotees have gathered along the banks of the holy Ganges River to celebrate the Gangasagar Mela festival.
Doctors had urged the West Bengal High Court to ban the festival this year due to the pandemic. However, the court decided to let it to move forward with social distancing measures in place, including requiring pilgrims to be double vaccinated or present a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of arriving.
According to a court order, at least 30,000 people have already visited the festival grounds and 50,000 devotees have arrived at various locations in West Bengal.
Between January 6-15, at least 500,000 devotees are expected to visit the festival grounds, according to the court order.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the city of Haridwar in the northern state of Uttarakhand banned devotees from taking a dip in the Ganges and prohibited religious gatherings ahead of Makar Sankranti — the Hindu festival of kites — on January 14.
Last year, massive crowds gathered in Haridwar for the months-long Kumbh Mela festival. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was criticized for allowing the festival to continue amid India's crippling second wave that saw millions get infected, and hospitals pushed to the brink of collapse.
India is witnessing a surge of new cases fueled by the highly contagious Omicron variant. On Wednesday, India reported 194,720 new Covid-19 cases, bringing its total to just over 36 million since the pandemic began, according to the Health Ministry.
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