:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/794fe8a4-9c57-11eb-bc56-02d2fb1aa1d7.jpg "Despite corona, Hindus are running out en masse for baptism in the Ganges | Abroad")
It concerns the most important heyday of Hinduism, the Jug Feast. The government previously announced that it was too busy to enforce. After the United States, India is one of the countries most affected by Covid-19. For example, it would already have surpassed Brazil in the number of corona cases.
More than 161,000 new corona cases were registered on Tuesday. It was the seventh day in a row that more than 100,000 infections had been diagnosed. The official death toll rose by 879 to 171,058.
On Monday, almost a million believers would have immersed themselves in the river. At least a hundred random people received a positive corona result on set up test streets along the Ganges, reports Reuters news agency.
Images show that the partygoers are not too concerned about mutual distance, let alone masks. Traditionally, hundreds of thousands more people will enter the water elsewhere in the country in the coming days.
There are also concerns about political campaigns that were in full swing in various federal states. “There were elections, religious gatherings, opening offices, many people traveling, activities that went on, civilians who did not follow the rules, barely wear masks at weddings or on crowded buses and trains,” said the corona minister of the land in a video conference.
Vaccines
Authorities in India approved the use of the Russian corona vaccine Sputnik-V on Tuesday. The Ministry of Health announced that approval has been granted through an emergency procedure.
India, which has approximately 1.4 billion inhabitants, joins dozens of other countries that have paved the way for the use of Sputnik-V. The Russian sovereign wealth fund has already signed deals with Indian companies to produce 852 million doses.
India has already started using two other corona vaccines. These are resources from AstraZeneca and the local company Bharat Biotech. The vaccination campaign began in January and 108 million doses of vaccines have already been administered to Indians. These have to be vaccinated twice with the current vaccines to be fully protected.
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