The State government on Tuesday informed the Kerala High Court that a revised advisory of the COVID-19 Outbreak Control and Prevention State Cell recommended against raising the number of Sabarimala pilgrims till Mandala Pooja day.
The submission was made when a batch of petitions seeking a directive to the government to increase number of devotees in Sabarimala was taken up.
The government pointed out that the cell had advised that an appropriate decision could be taken after the Mandala Pooja and analysing the pandemic progression in the State.
The advisory of the cell said that acceleration of COVID-19 transmission through religious gatherings had been observed in many places in Malaysia, India, Pakistan and South Korea. Transmission of COVID had been witnessed at Lord Venkateswara Temple, Tirupathi, even after following strict COVID-19 protocols.
Many pilgrimages such as Kailash Yatra and Amarnath Yatra had been suspended this year. 2020 Hajj pilgrimage was scaled down considerably with participants being restricted to 1,000 people. Many superspreader events such as Washington Choir were reported. All these highlighted the need for strict COVID protocols during Sabarimala pilgrimage.
It said that it was observed that 51 pilgrims and 248 persons including staff were tested positive till December 14. The reports of epidemiologists stated that there was a 31% increase in Pathanamthitta and also 11% in Kottayam. There were chances of a surge in a number of cases in Pathanamthitta due to several reasons including “pre-election and post election mixing of population”. Also, congregations at Nilackal, Pampa and Sannidhanam could aggravate the spread of COVID-19.
According to the advisory, the religious congregations and pilgrimage had turned out to be hotbeds of COVID-19 transmission. The revised advisory recommended that after the Mandala Pooja on December 26, all pilgrims be advised to come with a COVID-negative certificate done within 24 hours of reaching Nilackal.
The government submitted that a spike in COVID-19 cases was expected after the local body elections. In case any priest tested positive, it would lead to the closure of Sabarimala temple like Guruvayur was closed.
However, the Travancore Devaswom Board submitted that the number of devotees could be increased to 10,000. There would be sufficient space to accommodate these devotees adhering to the COVID protocol.
