AGRA: On the second day of Chaitra Navratri Wednesday, devotees visiting a temple in Etah were taken by surprise when they found the idol of goddess Durga wearing a face mask and priests offering masks as ‘prasad’. The temple administration’s initiative soon became the talk of the town even as the Etah district recorded 81 Covid-19 positive cases on Wednesday.

Manoj Sharma, a priest at the Durga temple located on GT Road in Etah, said, “As Navratri is coinciding with the second Covid-19 wave in Uttar Pradesh and people are thronging temples in a large numbers, we have put a face mask on the idol of the goddess and have been distributing face masks as ‘prasad’ to promote Covid-appropriate behaviour among devotees. Besides, we have made proper arrangement for hand sanitiser and also placed Covid-19 advisory at several places on the temple premises to ensure devotees do not pose a danger to public health and behave as responsible citizens.”

“Abiding by the government`s guidelines, we are not allowing more than five devotees on the temple premises at a time. Also, social distancing norms are religiously being followed during the morning and evening aarti,” added Sharma. Meanwhile, 20,510 people were declared Covid-19 positive in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, while 68 succumbed to the deadly virus in the state.

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