Summary:
Lucknow: Hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees flocked on Monday to take a holy bath in Ganges river in Uttarakhan`s Haridwar, even as the nation racked up the world`s highest tally of new daily coronavirus infections.
With 168,912 new cases, India accounts for one in six of all new infections globally, although the figure is still well below the US peak of nearly 300,000 new cases on January 8.
In Haridwar, nearly a million devotees thronged the banks of the Ganges to participate in the months-long `Kumbh Mela` or pitcher festival.
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Lucknow: Hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees flocked on Monday to take a holy bath in Ganges river in Uttarakhan`s Haridwar, even as the nation racked up the world`s highest tally of new daily coronavirus infections.
With 168,912 new cases, India accounts for one in six of all new infections globally, although the figure is still well below the US peak of nearly 300,000 new cases on January 8.
In Haridwar, nearly a million devotees thronged the banks of the Ganges to participate in the months-long `Kumbh Mela` or pitcher festival.
"The crowd here is surging...the police are continuously appealing to people to maintain social distancing," police official Sanjay Gunjyal told Reuters at the site.
By mid-morning a million people had taken a dip in the river, believed to wash away one`s sins.
As India`s second wave of infections builds, with fewer than four per cent estimated to have been vaccinated among a population of 1.4 billion, experts say the situation could have a long way to go before it starts getting better.
"After cases declined in January-February, we were very comfortable," said a panel of high court judges in the western state of Gujarat, calling on authorities to take urgent steps to rein in the outbreak.
"Almost everyone forgot that there was ever corona," added the panel, headed by Chief Justice Vikram Nath.A full opening of the economy from last year`s crippling lockdown, coupled with the mass religious festivals and political rallies in states heading to elections have fuelled the crisis.