Massive crowds of Hindu worshippers gathered on the banks of India’s Ganges river on Friday (January 14) for a holy tub despite a 30-fold rise in coronavirus circumstances prior to now one month.
Within the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, hundreds of devotees, few carrying masks, thronged the river’s banks. A lot of devotees had been additionally taking a dip within the sacred river the place it flows via the japanese state of West Bengal, which is reporting essentially the most variety of circumstances within the nation after Maharashtra state within the west.
India is once more dealing with a surge in coronavirus circumstances, fuelled principally by the extremely transmissible Omicron variant, however hospitalisations are low, with most individuals recovering at dwelling.
Docs had appealed unsuccessfully to the West Bengal state excessive court docket to reverse a choice to permit the competition this yr, worrying it’s going to change into a virus “tremendous spreader” occasion. Final yr, an enormous non secular gathering in northern India contributed to a document rise in coronavirus circumstances.
On Friday, the well being ministry reported 264,202 new circumstances of the coronavirus within the earlier 24 hours, taking India’s complete tally to 36.58 million.