The Hindu festival of Kumbh Mela takes place over a number of weeks.
Organizers say people are taking precautions during this period of submerging in the river to be absolved of sins. Still, officials expect one million pilgrims to attend on Thursday.
The following written content from Guy Davies
Images from the northern town of Haridwar which is host to this year’s event taken on Thursday showed thousands gathering to take a dip in the Ganges on the first day of the festival.
Kumbh Mela takes place over a number of weeks and the pilgrims believe that submerging in the river will help absolve them of their sins.
Ordinarily tens of millions of Indians gather over the course of the festival which is famous for the colorful scenes and the presence of the Sadhus, or holy men.
However, India is still very much in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic and the numbers expected to travel from around the country has raised fears of more community spread.
In the early months of the pandemic, part of the spread of the virus around the country was attributed to day-laborers traveling long distances home to adhere to COVID-induced lockdowns.
“The pandemic is a bit of a worry, but we are taking all precautions,” one organizer, who suggested that up to a million people could join at the festival on Thursday, was quoted as saying by Agence-France-Presse. “I’m sure Maa Ganga will take care of their safety.” Read more from ABC
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