BHUBANESWAR: A servitor of Puri Jagannath Temple has tested positive for the COVID-19, informed Puri District Collector Balwant Singh on Tuesday. The news came even as devotees from across the globe are glued to television screens and online platforms as the world-famous annual Rath Yatra (chariot festival) commenced at Puri on Tuesday sans devotees amid conditions laid by the Supreme Court keeping an eye on the Covid-19 situation in Odisha.
On Monday, after the Odisha government had filed before the SC bench stating that it might be possible to conduct the festival “in a limited way without public attendance”, the bench ruled that “ if it is possible to ensure that there is no public attendance, we see no reason why the Rath Yatra cannot be conducted safely along its usual route from temple to temple.”
The court, however, imposed strict restrictions which specified that each chariot will be pulled by no more than 500 persons, all of whom shall be tested for coronavirus and permitted to participate only if they are found negative. There shall be an interval of one hour between the two chariots and strict social distancing compliance should be ensured while pulling them. Persons associated with rituals of the deities should also be tested and permitted to take part only if found negative.
As per the the SC directives, COVID-19 tests of 1,143 servitors were undertaken on Monday ahead of the Rath Yatra and except for one all were found negative.
"Confirm case has been shifted to COVID Hospital before Rath Yatra rituals. Contact tracing is being done and the area has been contained," said the Puri district administration in a tweet.
(With inputs from IANS)
ALSO WATCH: