Haridwar: City of Kumbh Mela, Haridwar, which already has over 10 lakh devotees, is showing all likelihood of becoming a COVID hot spot. According to NDTV’s reports a thousand COVID positive cases have been detected in the last two days. While 408 cases were detected in Haridwar on Monday, 594 positive cases were detected yesterday. There are now 2812 active cases in the city.

1925 positive cases were detected in the last 24 hours in Uttarakhand, of which 13 have died. It is said that more than one million devotees have already joined the Kumbh Mela and over 40 lakh people are expected to attend the celebration in a month’s time. The Kumbh Mela gathering is a cause for concern in the entire country as the country is already reeling from the effects of COVID’s second wave.

Amid all the COVID warnings being issued by the central health department, when the country is facing a shortage of hospital beds and COVID vaccines, more than 100,000 people gathered in Haridwar for a ‘Shahi Snan’ on Monday. It is noteworthy that the devotees who attended did not wear mask or maintain social distance. The very next day, India registered a record of 1.60 lakh COVID cases.