Last modified on Mon 12 Apr 2021 11.42 EDT
More than two million devotees bathed in the River Ganges on Monday despite soaring rates of new Covid-19 cases across India, a second wave that has struck down Bollywood stars, sent migrant workers fleeing from cities and contributed to the slowing of vaccination programmes around the world.
The largest bathing day of the Hindu religious festival Kumbh Mela in the northern Indian city of Haridwar highlighted the immense challenge facing officials in trying to implement social distancing as the daily rate of new Covid-19 cases crossed 160,000 over the weekend, India’s highest point since the beginning of the pandemic.