A top Kumbh Mela official Saturday said it was unfair to call it a Covid "super-spreader" as just 0.2 per cent of the total RT-PCR tests conducted in Haridwar from January 1 till the conclusion of the event returned a positive result.
Mela IG Sanjay Gunjyal also said the religious event formally began on April 1 by which time the second wave of Covid was already raging in states like Maharashtra and Haryana.
Seventy lakh devotees participated in Haridwar's Kumbh Mela, the mammoth religious congregation which ended Friday after triggering a scare that it might have acted as a coronavirus "super-spreader".
Kumbh ends: 70 lakh participated in ‘scaled down’ mela held amid virus surge
Held over three months in normal circumstances, the Kumbh Mela this time formally begun as late as April 1 due to concerns over COVID-19.
By PTI| Posted by Nikita Venkatesh | Published: 30th April 2021 8:43 pm IST Seers taking a dip in River Ganges as a part of last royal bath. (PTI photo)
Dehradun: Seventy lakh devotees participated in Haridwar’s Kumbh Mela, the mammoth religious congregation which ended Friday after triggering a scare that it might have acted as a COVID-19 super-spreader .
Despite the huge number of people gathering around Haridwar to take a dip in the holy Ganga, the 2021 event was a comparatively modest event reduced to just one month and scaled down midway due to the raging pandemic.