As the second wave of the pandemic began to relent, thousands of devotees flouted COVID-19 safety norms at Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur’s Brajghat on Sunday, 20 June.
Public gatherings, including religious activities, are still banned under the restrictions announced by the Yogi Adityanath government. The huge numbers of devotees at Hapur come after the UP government eased lockdown restrictions, allowing malls and restaurants to open.
A similar instance of gathering on the banks of Ganga was also witnessed in UP’s Farrukhabad, where hundreds were seen blatantly flouting COVID rules at the Panchal ghat, reported India Today.
Similar gatherings were also witnessed in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, where devotees took a dip in the river on the occasion of Ganga Dussehra.
Despite the surge in COVID-19 cases in April, Kumbh Mela, the religious festival saw lakhs of devotees congregating and was spread across parts of Haridwar, Dehradun, Tehri, and Pauri districts.
According to a 16 June report by The Times of India, at least one lakh COVID-19 test reports were forged by a private agency during Kumbh festival.
The report added that a single phone number was used to register 50 people, while one antigen test kit was shown to have tested 700 people.
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