SABARIMALA: Booking for darshan through the virtual queue system at Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Temple was closed at 5am on Thursday, 12 hours after it had resumed. The booking had resumed after the government raised the cap of pilgrims allowed daily to the temple to 2,000 from 1,000.
A total of 44,000 pilgrims can have darshan at the hill shrine this pilgrimage season as per the revised number. It is far lesser compared to pre-Covid times when more than a lakh used to visit the temple daily during the Mandala-Makaravilakku season.
Keralites formed only 12% of the total devotees who sought tickets in the latest window, according to a source. While around half of the total devotees were from Tamil Nadu, those from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh followed in that order.
Meanwhile, two more Covid testing centres started functioning at the Nilakkal pilgrim transit camp on Friday, considering the surge in number of pilgrims. The health authorities are planning to open new testing centres at Erumeli, Pandalam, Chengannur and Kottayam.4 more test positiveFour government employees, including an excise officer on duty at Sannidhanam, tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.