<p>As many major states in India grapple with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the holy city of Haridwar is fighting its own fear of a spike in cases due to the ongoing Mahakumbh pilgrimage.</p>.<p>Haridwar, where millions of pilgrims are gathering for the Mahakumbh, has seen a staggering 250% rise in Covid-19 cases in the last week as compared to the month's first week. Around 278 fresh cases were recorded in Haridwar over the last week while 78 were reported in the first week of March.</p>.<p>A <em>Hindustan Times</em> report <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ahead-of-mahakumbh-covid-19-cases-jump-in-haridwar-101616796956160.html" target="_blank">said </a>that the test positivity rate of the city is now three times the rate on March 1.</p>.<p>The city generally hosts over 120 million pilgrims for the event that is spread over four months. However, the pandemic saw the event being shortened to one month while 30-40 million pilgrims are expected to arrive in April. The royal bath or 'shahi snan' event that started the Mahakumb festivities on March 11 already saw millions of people assembling in Haridwar.</p>.<p>Surprisingly, testing has not been amped up significantly even with a massive influx of pilgrims. March 1 saw about 4,000 tests being done with 4,715 tests done on Friday. Out of the 1,162 currently active cases in Uttarakhand, Haridwar alone claims 385.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coin-hunters-dive-for-fortunes-in-the-sacred-ganges-966210.html" target="_blank">Coin hunters dive for fortunes in the sacred Ganges </a></strong></p>.<p>A gathering of about 10 million people is expected to participate in the April 1 'shahi snan', as per Dr SK Jha, Chief Medical Officer, Haridwar.</p>.<p>"Those with no negative Covid-19 reports would be returned. And those found positive through random testing would be isolated. We have the capacity to isolate over 10,000 people, with the help of private hospitals. The testing on normal days will be increased as per the pilgrim rush and on Shahi Snan days, it can go even beyond 50,000. For the last four days, we have been conducting tests of 3,000 to 5,000 people,” he reassured.</p>.<p>Pilgrims returning from Mahakumbh now have to provide a negative report from an RT-PCR test taken not more than 72 hours earlier, a move that came after an Uttarakhand High Court directive on Wednesday following worries of cases rapidly rising due to the gathering. </p>.<p>“On Thursday, they tested over 3,900 people. With such low testing at present, what can be the situation when one crore people will turn up. It won’t serve the purpose because even if Covid-19 infection is brought by few people into Kumbh area, it has potential to spread in millions”, said Anoop Nautiyal, founder of Dehradun-based <em>Social Development for Communities. </em></p>.<p>Nautiyal, who has been analysing Covid-data for a while now, said that there needed to be a ten-fold increase in testing considering the massive footfall in Haridwar.</p>
<p>As many major states in India grapple with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the holy city of Haridwar is fighting its own fear of a spike in cases due to the ongoing Mahakumbh pilgrimage.</p>.<p>Haridwar, where millions of pilgrims are gathering for the Mahakumbh, has seen a staggering 250% rise in Covid-19 cases in the last week as compared to the month's first week. Around 278 fresh cases were recorded in Haridwar over the last week while 78 were reported in the first week of March.</p>.<p>A <em>Hindustan Times</em> report <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ahead-of-mahakumbh-covid-19-cases-jump-in-haridwar-101616796956160.html" target="_blank">said </a>that the test positivity rate of the city is now three times the rate on March 1.</p>.<p>The city generally hosts over 120 million pilgrims for the event that is spread over four months. However, the pandemic saw the event being shortened to one month while 30-40 million pilgrims are expected to arrive in April. The royal bath or 'shahi snan' event that started the Mahakumb festivities on March 11 already saw millions of people assembling in Haridwar.</p>.<p>Surprisingly, testing has not been amped up significantly even with a massive influx of pilgrims. March 1 saw about 4,000 tests being done with 4,715 tests done on Friday. Out of the 1,162 currently active cases in Uttarakhand, Haridwar alone claims 385.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coin-hunters-dive-for-fortunes-in-the-sacred-ganges-966210.html" target="_blank">Coin hunters dive for fortunes in the sacred Ganges </a></strong></p>.<p>A gathering of about 10 million people is expected to participate in the April 1 'shahi snan', as per Dr SK Jha, Chief Medical Officer, Haridwar.</p>.<p>"Those with no negative Covid-19 reports would be returned. And those found positive through random testing would be isolated. We have the capacity to isolate over 10,000 people, with the help of private hospitals. The testing on normal days will be increased as per the pilgrim rush and on Shahi Snan days, it can go even beyond 50,000. For the last four days, we have been conducting tests of 3,000 to 5,000 people,” he reassured.</p>.<p>Pilgrims returning from Mahakumbh now have to provide a negative report from an RT-PCR test taken not more than 72 hours earlier, a move that came after an Uttarakhand High Court directive on Wednesday following worries of cases rapidly rising due to the gathering. </p>.<p>“On Thursday, they tested over 3,900 people. With such low testing at present, what can be the situation when one crore people will turn up. It won’t serve the purpose because even if Covid-19 infection is brought by few people into Kumbh area, it has potential to spread in millions”, said Anoop Nautiyal, founder of Dehradun-based <em>Social Development for Communities. </em></p>.<p>Nautiyal, who has been analysing Covid-data for a while now, said that there needed to be a ten-fold increase in testing considering the massive footfall in Haridwar.</p>