What is the Maha Kumbh Mela?
The Maha Kumbh is traditionally held between the Hindu festivals of Makar Sankranti and an auspicious full moon in April. Followers of the Hindu religion visit the site of the Kumbh Mela with families, often staying in makeshift camps for weeks on end. For context, the ardh (or half) Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj (Allahabad) in 2019 saw 240 million visitors, including a large number of foreign tourists.
Hindu ascetics, who identify with certain sects or akharas, set up large camps where they read religious scriptures, and sing hymns praising Hindu gods. Most evenings, devotees and sadhus gather around for a communal meal.
These akharas also wield significant political influence, often aligning with right-wing and Hindu nationalist parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Nirmohi Akhara, for instance, was a vocal proponent of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, which called for the building of a temple dedicated to Hindu god Ram at his supposed birthplace in Ayodhya.
Every Kumbh, the sadhus and their followers take a dip in the river on whose bank that fair is being held to symbolically wash away their sins. This is called the shahi snan (or the royal dip), and marks the most auspicious—and the most crowded—days of the fair. Some sadhus take the dip without any clothes on, and if the previous congregation on Feb. 11 in Prayagraj is anything to go by, most likely without masks too.
This Maha Kumbh, there will be four shahi snans, one on March 11 before the Kumbh officially begins.
https://qz.com/india/1980527/kumbh-mela ... source=YPL
KUMBH MELA
Massive religious gathering worries India as COVID-19 cases surge
Aftab Ahmed and Krishna N. Das
Reuters Sun, March 21, 2021, 3:32 AM
FILE PHOTO: Rapid antigen testing campaign for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ahmedabad
By Aftab Ahmed and Krishna N. Das
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's health ministry warned on Sunday that a huge gathering of devotees for a Hindu festival could send coronavirus cases surging, as the country recorded the most new infections in nearly four months.
The ministry said up to 40 people were testing positive for COVID-19 daily around the site of the weeks-long Mahakumbh that began this month and peaks in April in the Himalayan holy town of Haridwar, next to the Ganges.
The festival is held only once every 12 years. Organizzers have said https://www.haridwarkumbhmela2021.com/a ... troduction more than 150 million visitors are expected, as many Hindus believe bathing in the river during this period absolves people of sins and bring salvation from the cycle of life and death.
In a letter to the state government of Uttarakhand, where Haridwar is located, the ministry told local authorities their daily coronavirus testing of 55,000 people in Haridwar was not enough given the large numbers of pilgrims expected, and that cases were already rising.
"This positivity rate has the potential to rapidly turn into an upsurge in cases, given the expected large footfall during Kumbh," the ministry said in a statement, citing the letter.
"Currently more than 12 states in India have shown a surge in COVID-19 cases during the past few weeks, and pilgrims expected to visit Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela could also be from these states."
Uttarakhand's government says it has made mask-wearing mandatory for devotees, would distribute millions of masks for free and also keep sanitizing public areas, apart from following rules laid down by the federal government.
India reported 43,846 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, with its richest state Maharashtra again accounting for about 60% of the infections.
Deaths rose by 197, the highest in more than two months, to 159,755, data from the health ministry showed.
India’s new COVID-19 cases peaked at nearly 100,000 a day in September, and had been falling steadily until late last month.
But now five states - Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh - account for nearly 78% of the new cases. Maharashtra, home to India's financial capital Mumbai, alone reported 27,126 cases and 92 deaths.
As cases increase, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been criticized for exporting more vaccines than the number of people inoculated at home so far.
Under pressure to boost local supplies, the Serum Institute of India has told Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco that shipments of further doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to them would be delayed. [L4N2LJ01V]
India has so far donated 8 million doses and sold nearly 52 million doses to a total of 75 countries. It has administered more than 44 million doses since starting its immunization campaign in the middle of January.
(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Krishna N. Das; Editing by Kim Coghill)
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ma ... 04140.html
Aftab Ahmed and Krishna N. Das
Reuters Sun, March 21, 2021, 3:32 AM
FILE PHOTO: Rapid antigen testing campaign for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ahmedabad
By Aftab Ahmed and Krishna N. Das
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's health ministry warned on Sunday that a huge gathering of devotees for a Hindu festival could send coronavirus cases surging, as the country recorded the most new infections in nearly four months.
The ministry said up to 40 people were testing positive for COVID-19 daily around the site of the weeks-long Mahakumbh that began this month and peaks in April in the Himalayan holy town of Haridwar, next to the Ganges.
The festival is held only once every 12 years. Organizzers have said https://www.haridwarkumbhmela2021.com/a ... troduction more than 150 million visitors are expected, as many Hindus believe bathing in the river during this period absolves people of sins and bring salvation from the cycle of life and death.
In a letter to the state government of Uttarakhand, where Haridwar is located, the ministry told local authorities their daily coronavirus testing of 55,000 people in Haridwar was not enough given the large numbers of pilgrims expected, and that cases were already rising.
"This positivity rate has the potential to rapidly turn into an upsurge in cases, given the expected large footfall during Kumbh," the ministry said in a statement, citing the letter.
"Currently more than 12 states in India have shown a surge in COVID-19 cases during the past few weeks, and pilgrims expected to visit Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela could also be from these states."
Uttarakhand's government says it has made mask-wearing mandatory for devotees, would distribute millions of masks for free and also keep sanitizing public areas, apart from following rules laid down by the federal government.
India reported 43,846 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, with its richest state Maharashtra again accounting for about 60% of the infections.
Deaths rose by 197, the highest in more than two months, to 159,755, data from the health ministry showed.
India’s new COVID-19 cases peaked at nearly 100,000 a day in September, and had been falling steadily until late last month.
But now five states - Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh - account for nearly 78% of the new cases. Maharashtra, home to India's financial capital Mumbai, alone reported 27,126 cases and 92 deaths.
As cases increase, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been criticized for exporting more vaccines than the number of people inoculated at home so far.
Under pressure to boost local supplies, the Serum Institute of India has told Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco that shipments of further doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to them would be delayed. [L4N2LJ01V]
India has so far donated 8 million doses and sold nearly 52 million doses to a total of 75 countries. It has administered more than 44 million doses since starting its immunization campaign in the middle of January.
(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Krishna N. Das; Editing by Kim Coghill)
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ma ... 04140.html
Nearly a miillion Hindu devotees join ritual bath
Reuters Videos Mon, April 12, 2021, 6:32 AM
Devotees, ash-smeared naked "naga sadhus" (Hindu holy men), Hindu saints, and members of the transgender community jostled for a dip in the waters of the river many Hindus consider holy, on a day considered auspicious in the Hindu calendar, with few wearing masks.
Despite making virus tests mandatory for those entering the area, authorities struggled to implement other strict measures to curb COVID-19 transmissions due to the large numbers.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ne ... 53763.html
Reuters Videos Mon, April 12, 2021, 6:32 AM
Devotees, ash-smeared naked "naga sadhus" (Hindu holy men), Hindu saints, and members of the transgender community jostled for a dip in the waters of the river many Hindus consider holy, on a day considered auspicious in the Hindu calendar, with few wearing masks.
Despite making virus tests mandatory for those entering the area, authorities struggled to implement other strict measures to curb COVID-19 transmissions due to the large numbers.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ne ... 53763.html
50 Million People Allowed at Super spreader Festival so Modi Can Secure the Hindu Vote
Yashraj Sharma, Bhat Burhan
The Daily Beast Fri, April 16, 2021, 4:00 AM
Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
In an apparent effort to secure votes for his party in India’s upcoming state elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has allowed at least 50 million Hindus to take to the Ganga river for a holy dip in a religious festival that has turned into an unprecedented COVID-19 super spreader event.
The Kumbh Mela, or the pitcher festival, is a mega Hindu gathering that takes place every 12 years along one of four riverbank pilgrimage sites, where millions of people bathe in the Ganga, also known as the Ganges, hoping to wash away their past sins and achieve salvation from the cycle of life and death. The month-long festival has been linked to at least 2,000 coronavirus infections so far.
The celebration involves ascetics draped in marigold flowers and carrying tridents—a principal symbol in Hinduism—leading hordes of ash-covered followers to the riverbanks. Crammed together, the festivalgoers sing, dance, and hug each other after taking dips in the water.
Despite the obvious public health hazards, Modi has allowed the festivities to continue uninterrupted. Appearing more concerned with bettering his party’s election odds, the prime minister has even promoted potential super spreader events of his own. With five Indian states heading to the polls through April, his de facto deputy—the home minister of India—has been jumping from one venue to another, addressing thousands of people in election rallies and leading grand road shows.
Meanwhile, all across the country, patients are laying outside hospitals and gasping for breath before dying unattended. This month, India’s largest crematoriums ran out of firewood as land space fell short in cemeteries. On Wednesday alone, 200,000 Indians tested positive for the coronavirus. Adding to this, India, long celebrated as the “world’s pharmacy,” is running out of vaccines for its own people. Several states have complained of stock shortage while the country's top vaccine manufacturers, Covishield and Covaxin, have decried a lack of resources.
Experts fear the current infection rate triggered by the festival is only the tip of the iceberg. After the festival ends, millions will be returning to different parts of the country, where they risk infecting others.
Dr. SK Jha, the chief medical officer of Haridwar province—home to one of the festival’s riverbank sites—told The Daily Beast that “the cases are rising here every day and we are expecting more infections in coming days at Kumbh Mela. The devotees have come from many parts of India where already cases are surging.”
The government had earlier promised several layers of screening to curb the spread as ash-smeared ascetics took over the town, but health authorities eventually pulled back the COVID-19 testing crew, fearing a stampede-like situation.
Two months ago, Modi had declared an early pandemic victory: “At the beginning of this pandemic, the whole world was worried about India's situation,” announced Modi in a chest-thumping virtual address. “But today, India's fight against [coronavirus] is inspiring the entire world.”
That is clearly no longer the case. Last month, a newly detected variant was searingly downplayed by the government. As cases began to rise again, the government refused to budge on the Kumbh festival, apparently fearing backlash from religious leaders in the Hindu-majority country and securing his Hindu vote bank.
Modi’s handling of the super spreader festival has also raised concerns about his government fueling religious fanaticism and Islamophobia. Last year, India’s Muslim community was vilified after 4,300 positive cases were linked to a religious gathering. Members of the community were jailed, tried in the courts, and subjected to a smear campaign run by the pro-government national media.
Critics have compared the media coverage of the Muslim event with the Kumbh festival, condemning the government’s apparent double standards and wilful ignorance when it comes to the Hindu festival.
Responding to the criticism, the chief minister of Uttarakhand—the state hosting the festival—said: “They [Markaz attendees] were all inside a building and here it is out in the open, near the Ganges. The flow and blessings of Ma Ganga (Mother Ganga) will ensure that coronavirus does not spread. The question does not arise of a comparison… The devotees attending Kumbh are not from outside but our own people.”
Though the current pandemic crisis is focused on the handling of the Kumbh festival celebrations, Modi’s planning and policy implementation has fallen on its face before. Last year, when India had around 525 cases, Modi announced an abrupt total lockdown overnight. The unplanned lockdown sparked an exodus of millions of laborers working in metropolitan cities, returning to their homes in the countryside on foot and spreading the virus that was then only limited to the cities.
Still, Modi has managed to champion the game of optics and sell his failures as essential steps and successes to the electorate. Modi’s party has relied on his public messaging to appeal to voters—a tactic focused on political leg-pulling and the flaunting of his largely unmasked “massive” rallies. He is unwavering in his celebration of the crowds that flock to him, and dares not dampen the mood by asking voters to adhere to safety precautions.
As other politicians follow suit, the Hindu nationalist leadership appears collectively hell-bent on showcasing an illusion of normalcy and preserving its religious sentiments. Meanwhile, the death count continues to soar as India’s historic health crisis spirals out of control.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/50 ... 06097.html
Yashraj Sharma, Bhat Burhan
The Daily Beast Fri, April 16, 2021, 4:00 AM
Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
In an apparent effort to secure votes for his party in India’s upcoming state elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has allowed at least 50 million Hindus to take to the Ganga river for a holy dip in a religious festival that has turned into an unprecedented COVID-19 super spreader event.
The Kumbh Mela, or the pitcher festival, is a mega Hindu gathering that takes place every 12 years along one of four riverbank pilgrimage sites, where millions of people bathe in the Ganga, also known as the Ganges, hoping to wash away their past sins and achieve salvation from the cycle of life and death. The month-long festival has been linked to at least 2,000 coronavirus infections so far.
The celebration involves ascetics draped in marigold flowers and carrying tridents—a principal symbol in Hinduism—leading hordes of ash-covered followers to the riverbanks. Crammed together, the festivalgoers sing, dance, and hug each other after taking dips in the water.
Despite the obvious public health hazards, Modi has allowed the festivities to continue uninterrupted. Appearing more concerned with bettering his party’s election odds, the prime minister has even promoted potential super spreader events of his own. With five Indian states heading to the polls through April, his de facto deputy—the home minister of India—has been jumping from one venue to another, addressing thousands of people in election rallies and leading grand road shows.
Meanwhile, all across the country, patients are laying outside hospitals and gasping for breath before dying unattended. This month, India’s largest crematoriums ran out of firewood as land space fell short in cemeteries. On Wednesday alone, 200,000 Indians tested positive for the coronavirus. Adding to this, India, long celebrated as the “world’s pharmacy,” is running out of vaccines for its own people. Several states have complained of stock shortage while the country's top vaccine manufacturers, Covishield and Covaxin, have decried a lack of resources.
Experts fear the current infection rate triggered by the festival is only the tip of the iceberg. After the festival ends, millions will be returning to different parts of the country, where they risk infecting others.
Dr. SK Jha, the chief medical officer of Haridwar province—home to one of the festival’s riverbank sites—told The Daily Beast that “the cases are rising here every day and we are expecting more infections in coming days at Kumbh Mela. The devotees have come from many parts of India where already cases are surging.”
The government had earlier promised several layers of screening to curb the spread as ash-smeared ascetics took over the town, but health authorities eventually pulled back the COVID-19 testing crew, fearing a stampede-like situation.
Two months ago, Modi had declared an early pandemic victory: “At the beginning of this pandemic, the whole world was worried about India's situation,” announced Modi in a chest-thumping virtual address. “But today, India's fight against [coronavirus] is inspiring the entire world.”
That is clearly no longer the case. Last month, a newly detected variant was searingly downplayed by the government. As cases began to rise again, the government refused to budge on the Kumbh festival, apparently fearing backlash from religious leaders in the Hindu-majority country and securing his Hindu vote bank.
Modi’s handling of the super spreader festival has also raised concerns about his government fueling religious fanaticism and Islamophobia. Last year, India’s Muslim community was vilified after 4,300 positive cases were linked to a religious gathering. Members of the community were jailed, tried in the courts, and subjected to a smear campaign run by the pro-government national media.
Critics have compared the media coverage of the Muslim event with the Kumbh festival, condemning the government’s apparent double standards and wilful ignorance when it comes to the Hindu festival.
Responding to the criticism, the chief minister of Uttarakhand—the state hosting the festival—said: “They [Markaz attendees] were all inside a building and here it is out in the open, near the Ganges. The flow and blessings of Ma Ganga (Mother Ganga) will ensure that coronavirus does not spread. The question does not arise of a comparison… The devotees attending Kumbh are not from outside but our own people.”
Though the current pandemic crisis is focused on the handling of the Kumbh festival celebrations, Modi’s planning and policy implementation has fallen on its face before. Last year, when India had around 525 cases, Modi announced an abrupt total lockdown overnight. The unplanned lockdown sparked an exodus of millions of laborers working in metropolitan cities, returning to their homes in the countryside on foot and spreading the virus that was then only limited to the cities.
Still, Modi has managed to champion the game of optics and sell his failures as essential steps and successes to the electorate. Modi’s party has relied on his public messaging to appeal to voters—a tactic focused on political leg-pulling and the flaunting of his largely unmasked “massive” rallies. He is unwavering in his celebration of the crowds that flock to him, and dares not dampen the mood by asking voters to adhere to safety precautions.
As other politicians follow suit, the Hindu nationalist leadership appears collectively hell-bent on showcasing an illusion of normalcy and preserving its religious sentiments. Meanwhile, the death count continues to soar as India’s historic health crisis spirals out of control.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/50 ... 06097.html
By Rohan Venkataramakrishnan
April 13, 2021
“This is not negligence. It’s a serious criminal act.”
“Spreading Covid-19 is also like terrorism, and all those who are spreading the virus are traitors.”
“The government should not sit quietly. It should gun down a few to ensure they follow lockdown norms.”
Those are just a few of the comments by ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members from 2020, referring to a gathering by the Tablighi Jamaat group in Delhi that turned out to be an early Covid-19 hotspot. Though the congregation began before the novel coronavirus had been declared a health emergency in the country, some believe that the actions of the Jamaat were condemnable. Court cases filed against members have led to numerous acquittals.
What is much more evident is how the incident and the BJP’s rhetoric fueled hate speech and bigotry against Muslims in the early stages of the pandemic. Muslims were blamed for deliberately spreading the virus across India by waging what Hindutva adherents claimed was a “corona jihad”.
For months, headlines, incendiary statements, and viral videos sought to convey the idea that the spread of the virus in the country was the responsibility of a single community.
Imagine if the Tablighi Jamaat gathering had been happening right now, with India in the grip of a brutal second wave of Covid-19 and daily case counts hitting numbers far higher than the worst days of 2020. Imagine the response of the BJP and India’s pro-government news channels if a police person had said something like this:
“We are continuously appealing to people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour. But due to the huge crowd, it is practically not possible to issue challans today. It is very difficult to ensure social distancing… A stampede-like situation may arise if we would try to enforce social distancing at ghats so we are unable to enforce social distancing here.”
It is not hard to imagine the anger and demands for accountability that might have been unleashed by a comment like that, from a senior police officer.
So what explains the relative silence of the government and the BJP when the same comment comes from the Inspector General of the Kumbh Mela currently taking place in Uttarakhand?
The point is, of course, not to encourage bigotry or hatred directed towards the millions of people who have congregated on the banks of the Ganga for the Kumbh but to point out the blatant double standards—and the utter lack of accountability from the authorities.
In the Tablighi Jamaat incident, it was clear that the government had failed to dissipate a gathering that eventually became a hotpsot and then proceeded to make things worse by stigmatising the disease and making Indians afraid about getting tested.
In the case of the Kumbh, the dangers are much more obvious.
As new variants are ripping through states around the country, with patients filling up hospitals and crematoriums struggling to handle the numbers of dead, the Uttarakhand government did not just fail to take action limiting numbers at the Hindu festival—it actively encouraged people to come and told them not to worry about Covid-19 restrictions.
This was what Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said on March 20:
“I invite all devotees across the world to come to Haridwar and take a holy dip in the Ganga during Mahakumbh. Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus.”
While claiming that all Central guidelines would be followed and that only those with a negative RT-PCR would be allowed to come, Rawat repeatedly said there would be no “rok-tok” or obstacles. “There is no strictness,” he said. “But Covid-19 guidelines should be followed… It’s open for everyone.”
https://qz.com/india/1996084/modi-gover ... source=YPL
April 13, 2021
“This is not negligence. It’s a serious criminal act.”
“Spreading Covid-19 is also like terrorism, and all those who are spreading the virus are traitors.”
“The government should not sit quietly. It should gun down a few to ensure they follow lockdown norms.”
Those are just a few of the comments by ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members from 2020, referring to a gathering by the Tablighi Jamaat group in Delhi that turned out to be an early Covid-19 hotspot. Though the congregation began before the novel coronavirus had been declared a health emergency in the country, some believe that the actions of the Jamaat were condemnable. Court cases filed against members have led to numerous acquittals.
What is much more evident is how the incident and the BJP’s rhetoric fueled hate speech and bigotry against Muslims in the early stages of the pandemic. Muslims were blamed for deliberately spreading the virus across India by waging what Hindutva adherents claimed was a “corona jihad”.
For months, headlines, incendiary statements, and viral videos sought to convey the idea that the spread of the virus in the country was the responsibility of a single community.
Imagine if the Tablighi Jamaat gathering had been happening right now, with India in the grip of a brutal second wave of Covid-19 and daily case counts hitting numbers far higher than the worst days of 2020. Imagine the response of the BJP and India’s pro-government news channels if a police person had said something like this:
“We are continuously appealing to people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour. But due to the huge crowd, it is practically not possible to issue challans today. It is very difficult to ensure social distancing… A stampede-like situation may arise if we would try to enforce social distancing at ghats so we are unable to enforce social distancing here.”
It is not hard to imagine the anger and demands for accountability that might have been unleashed by a comment like that, from a senior police officer.
So what explains the relative silence of the government and the BJP when the same comment comes from the Inspector General of the Kumbh Mela currently taking place in Uttarakhand?
The point is, of course, not to encourage bigotry or hatred directed towards the millions of people who have congregated on the banks of the Ganga for the Kumbh but to point out the blatant double standards—and the utter lack of accountability from the authorities.
In the Tablighi Jamaat incident, it was clear that the government had failed to dissipate a gathering that eventually became a hotpsot and then proceeded to make things worse by stigmatising the disease and making Indians afraid about getting tested.
In the case of the Kumbh, the dangers are much more obvious.
As new variants are ripping through states around the country, with patients filling up hospitals and crematoriums struggling to handle the numbers of dead, the Uttarakhand government did not just fail to take action limiting numbers at the Hindu festival—it actively encouraged people to come and told them not to worry about Covid-19 restrictions.
This was what Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said on March 20:
“I invite all devotees across the world to come to Haridwar and take a holy dip in the Ganga during Mahakumbh. Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus.”
While claiming that all Central guidelines would be followed and that only those with a negative RT-PCR would be allowed to come, Rawat repeatedly said there would be no “rok-tok” or obstacles. “There is no strictness,” he said. “But Covid-19 guidelines should be followed… It’s open for everyone.”
https://qz.com/india/1996084/modi-gover ... source=YPL
The Indian state that hosted the super-spreader Kumbh Mela was on the verge of “inviting a catastrophe again”
UTTARAKHAND TOURISM
Waiting for disaster.
By Ananya Bhattacharya
Tech reporter
Published June 29, 2021
The northern Indian state that hosted the super-spreader Kumbh Mela earlier this year doesn’t seem to care much about the Covid-19 pandemic even now.
Earlier today (June 29), the Uttarakhand government postponed the Char Dham Yatra—a Hindu religious trip spanning four destinations, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri, and Gangotri—that it was set to host from July 1. The state has not cancelled the event despite a June 28 ruling from the Uttarakhand high court that said hosting the event would be like “inviting a catastrophe again.”
Typically, over 380,000 pilgrims undertake the Char Dham Yatra every year.
The Kumbh Mela in April had led to a massive outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the Himalayan state. Over half the state’s 200,000-plus Covid case tally till the end of May were clocked in just the one-month period of Kumbh. Almost three in five Covid deaths in Uttarakhand happened in May 2021 after the Kumbh Mela.
In fact, the event is widely believed to have contributed to the deadly second wave of the pandemic in India.
Uttarakhand Char Dham Yatra
This year’s pilgrimage was initially scheduled to take place in May but was delayed due to the deadline the second wave of Covid-19.
When the July dates were announced, the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state decided it would not be open to outsiders. Only locals from three districts—Chamoli, Uttarkashi, and Rudraprayag—could travel with a mandatory negative Covid-19 test report
In mid-June, the state’s high court had ordered the government submit the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Char Dham, but it was not convinced by the “absolutely vague affidavits” filed, chief justice RS Chauhan said. The court, which recommended temples to live stream their prayer ceremonies for devotees, has asked the government to file the affidavit again by July 7.
https://qz.com/india/2026651/char-dham- ... source=YPL
UTTARAKHAND TOURISM
Waiting for disaster.
By Ananya Bhattacharya
Tech reporter
Published June 29, 2021
The northern Indian state that hosted the super-spreader Kumbh Mela earlier this year doesn’t seem to care much about the Covid-19 pandemic even now.
Earlier today (June 29), the Uttarakhand government postponed the Char Dham Yatra—a Hindu religious trip spanning four destinations, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri, and Gangotri—that it was set to host from July 1. The state has not cancelled the event despite a June 28 ruling from the Uttarakhand high court that said hosting the event would be like “inviting a catastrophe again.”
Typically, over 380,000 pilgrims undertake the Char Dham Yatra every year.
The Kumbh Mela in April had led to a massive outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the Himalayan state. Over half the state’s 200,000-plus Covid case tally till the end of May were clocked in just the one-month period of Kumbh. Almost three in five Covid deaths in Uttarakhand happened in May 2021 after the Kumbh Mela.
In fact, the event is widely believed to have contributed to the deadly second wave of the pandemic in India.
Uttarakhand Char Dham Yatra
This year’s pilgrimage was initially scheduled to take place in May but was delayed due to the deadline the second wave of Covid-19.
When the July dates were announced, the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state decided it would not be open to outsiders. Only locals from three districts—Chamoli, Uttarkashi, and Rudraprayag—could travel with a mandatory negative Covid-19 test report
In mid-June, the state’s high court had ordered the government submit the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Char Dham, but it was not convinced by the “absolutely vague affidavits” filed, chief justice RS Chauhan said. The court, which recommended temples to live stream their prayer ceremonies for devotees, has asked the government to file the affidavit again by July 7.
https://qz.com/india/2026651/char-dham- ... source=YPL
Reuters
India's excess deaths during pandemic up to 4.9 million, study shows
Outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), near Bengaluru
Ankur Banerjee and Neha Arora
Tue, July 20, 2021, 5:16 AM
By Ankur Banerjee and Neha Arora
(Reuters) -India's excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic could be as high as 4.9 million, a new study shows, providing further evidence that millions more may have died from coronavirus than the official tally.
The report by the Washington-based Center for Global Development, co-authored by India's former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, included deaths from all causes since the start of the pandemic through June this year.
India's official tally of more than 414,000 deaths is the world's third highest after the United States and Brazil, but the study adds to growing calls from experts for a rigorous nationwide audit of fatalities.
A devastating rise in infections in April and May, driven largely by the more infectious and dangerous Delta variant, overwhelmed the healthcare system and killed at least 170,000 people in May alone, official data show.
"What is tragically clear is that too many people, in the millions rather than hundreds of thousands, may have died," the report said, estimating between 3.4 million and 4.9 million excess deaths during the pandemic.
But it did not ascribe all excess deaths to the pandemic.
"We focus on all-cause mortality, and estimate excess mortality relative to a pre-pandemic baseline, adjusting for seasonality," the authors said https://bit.ly/2Usm8cE.
The health ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.
Some experts have said excess deaths are the best way to measure the real toll from COVID-19.
"For every country, it's important to capture excess mortality - the only way to prepare the health system for future shocks and to prevent further deaths," Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the World Health Organization, said on Twitter https://bit.ly/3kCGevC.
The New York Times said the most conservative estimate of deaths in India was 600,000 and the worst-case scenario several times that. The government has dismissed those figures.
Health experts blame the undercounting largely on scarce resources in the vast hinterland home to two-thirds of India's population of nearly 1.4 billion, and also many deaths at home without being tested.
India has reported a decline in daily infections from a May peak, with Tuesday's 30,093 new cases making up its lowest daily count in four months.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has also been criticised for a messy vaccination campaign that many say helped worsen the second wave of infections.
Just over 8% of eligible adult Indians have received both vaccine doses.
In July, the government administered fewer than 4 million daily doses on average, down from a record 9.2 million on June 21, when Modi flagged off a free campaign to inoculate all 950 million adults.
(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru and Neha Arora in New Delhi; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Giles Elgood)
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/in ... 09573.html
India's excess deaths during pandemic up to 4.9 million, study shows
Outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), near Bengaluru
Ankur Banerjee and Neha Arora
Tue, July 20, 2021, 5:16 AM
By Ankur Banerjee and Neha Arora
(Reuters) -India's excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic could be as high as 4.9 million, a new study shows, providing further evidence that millions more may have died from coronavirus than the official tally.
The report by the Washington-based Center for Global Development, co-authored by India's former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, included deaths from all causes since the start of the pandemic through June this year.
India's official tally of more than 414,000 deaths is the world's third highest after the United States and Brazil, but the study adds to growing calls from experts for a rigorous nationwide audit of fatalities.
A devastating rise in infections in April and May, driven largely by the more infectious and dangerous Delta variant, overwhelmed the healthcare system and killed at least 170,000 people in May alone, official data show.
"What is tragically clear is that too many people, in the millions rather than hundreds of thousands, may have died," the report said, estimating between 3.4 million and 4.9 million excess deaths during the pandemic.
But it did not ascribe all excess deaths to the pandemic.
"We focus on all-cause mortality, and estimate excess mortality relative to a pre-pandemic baseline, adjusting for seasonality," the authors said https://bit.ly/2Usm8cE.
The health ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.
Some experts have said excess deaths are the best way to measure the real toll from COVID-19.
"For every country, it's important to capture excess mortality - the only way to prepare the health system for future shocks and to prevent further deaths," Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the World Health Organization, said on Twitter https://bit.ly/3kCGevC.
The New York Times said the most conservative estimate of deaths in India was 600,000 and the worst-case scenario several times that. The government has dismissed those figures.
Health experts blame the undercounting largely on scarce resources in the vast hinterland home to two-thirds of India's population of nearly 1.4 billion, and also many deaths at home without being tested.
India has reported a decline in daily infections from a May peak, with Tuesday's 30,093 new cases making up its lowest daily count in four months.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has also been criticised for a messy vaccination campaign that many say helped worsen the second wave of infections.
Just over 8% of eligible adult Indians have received both vaccine doses.
In July, the government administered fewer than 4 million daily doses on average, down from a record 9.2 million on June 21, when Modi flagged off a free campaign to inoculate all 950 million adults.
(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru and Neha Arora in New Delhi; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Giles Elgood)
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/in ... 09573.html