India’s Kumbh Mela stokes Covid surge fears as millions flock to Ganges

Millions of Hindus have gathered on the banks of India’s sacred Ganges river to celebrate the Kumbh Mela, even as health officials warned that the country’s health system was at serious risk from surging coronavirus cases.

Public health experts feared the month-long festival, which is expected to draw tens of millions of pilgrims to the temple town of Haridwar in Uttarakhand province, will accelerate infections. Cases have already risen sharply across the country in recent weeks.

“It’s obviously a matter of great concern,” said K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, a charity. “Any large gathering of people has the potential to be a superspreader event.”

India confirmed more than 72,000 infections on Wednesday and reported more than 450 Covid-19 deaths.

Tirath Singh Rawat, Uttarakhand’s chief minister and a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party, has downplayed the risks. He has insisted “faith is stronger than fear”, adding that “religious sentiments needed to be given priority” over health concerns.

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An estimated 3.5m people took a ritual bath in the Ganges at the religious site on March 11, another auspicious day. Devout Hindus believe that submerging themselves in the Ganges on certain holy days absolves them of past sins.

Though Uttarakhand decided that pilgrims would be required to produce a negative coronavirus certificate or be tested before approaching the festival site, it was unclear how rules could be enforced given the expected onslaught of up to 5m people on especially propitious days.

“If people can work from home, people can pray from home,” Reddy said. “There’s no reason to believe that piety has to be an outdoor public event.”

The opening of the Kumbh Mela came days after Indian health officials called for urgent action to stem a rising tide of Covid-19 cases that has put a severe strain on health systems in Maharashtra state.

Rajesh Bhushan, a top official at the health ministry, blamed the surge since the middle of February on people crowding together in public places or events without masks or social distancing.

He urged police and other authorities to crack down on such events and ensure “Covid-appropriate behaviour”, warning that “complacency at this stage, at any level, will have heavy costs”.

India on Thursday opened eligibility for vaccinations to all adults over the age of 45, as it sought to accelerate its sluggish inoculation campaign, which began in January.

The country has administered just 63m doses among its 1.3bn people. Many public health experts feel India missed an opportunity to vaccinate more aggressively when cases were falling.

“The virus did give us a good window,” said Sujatha Rao, a former Indian health secretary. “We should have taken advantage.”

Rao also said the campaign should have targeted the hardest-hit regions rather than focusing on the elderly. “They should have saturated virus-affected areas, rather than spreading the vaccine thinly around the country,” she said.

Anand Mahindra, a prominent industrialist, was among those who urged that Maharashtra, the region worst-hit by the second wave and home to financial capital Mumbai, be given permission to vaccinate all willing adults to combat the surge.

India has sent more than 64m doses of locally produced vaccines to more than 80 countries, although the pace has slowed after New Delhi blocked exports as it sought to bolster its domestic vaccination programme.