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.