New Delhi: The Kerala government has decided to close the Thrissur Pooram festival to the public, hours after it was reported that the state health minister had said that the festival will be conducted as usual in spite of the health concerns associated with large crowds during the pandemic.
The Thrissur Pooram festival is held on the grounds of the Vadakkunathan temple in the town and is one of the biggest Hindu festivals in the state, attended by close to two million people.
The Kerala government had initially said that a COVID-19 negative certificate would be required for those who attend but had ruled out cancelling the programme entirely, as The Wire had reported.
“Many preparations have been made for the festival, so it is not possible to cancel it entirely. It will cause many problems. Clear instructions have been given to conduct it with caution which the Devaswom committee has been agreed to. Even those who test negative [for COVID-19] should still wear masks, apply sanitisers and keep as much distance as possible from each other,” The News Minute quoted K.K. Shailaja, the health minister, as having said.
NDTV has reported now that instead of a festival, Thrissur Pooram will be held as a ritual, with only key organisers in attendance. The rituals will be screened online.
Also read: Can’t Cancel Thrissur Pooram Festival as it Will ‘Cause Many Problems’: Kerala Health Minister
Last year, too, the event was barred to the public during the first wave of the health crisis.
As The Wire has reported, while the main festival was scheduled to be held on April 23, parts of the festivities began on April 17, when two temples in the city – the main organisers of the event – held flag-hoisting ceremonies. According to The Hindu, several people attended these events despite fears of rising COVID-19 infection.
The decision to close the festival to the public was spurred by the fact that the test positivity rate in Thrissur rose to 21.97% and the daily number of cases also crossed 1,000, reported Mathrubhumi.
Kerala registered 13,644 fresh COVID-19 cases on April 19, taking active cases past the one lakh mark, while 21 more fatalities took the toll to almost 5,000, the state government said.
As many as 4,305 people have been cured, taking the total recoveries to 11,44,791 while the total infection caseload mounted to 12,53,068.
On Sunday, Kerala had logged 18,257 cases, pushing the infection load to 12.39 lakh as the government directed all domestic travellers coming to the state to undergo RT-PCR tests.
(With PTI inputs)