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Hindu worshippers had gathered in numbers approximately at hundreds of thousands for the holy bath at Ganges River on Friday (14 Jan) despite a surge in the pandemic numbers.
According to religious beliefs, taking a dip in the water washes away their sins during the Makarsankranti festival.
Devotees were seen dipping in the water in massive numbers inside the sacred Ganges river where it flows through West Bengal, who is currently the place in India reporting the highest pandemic infected count.
In another state in the north, Uttar Pradesh, devotees were also seen in the thousands taking a dip in the river banks without wearing their masks.
Surge in cases
Due to the Omicron wave, India is now facing a surge in pandemic numbers again even though hospitalisation numbers are low as most infected people are recovering from home.
Doctors were rejected by a West Bengal court to prohibit the event this year as they were worried that this event will cause the virus to spread massively again.
This was after an event last year in North India let to a surge in the number of cases.
Current pandemic situation in India
264,202 cases were reported in India on Friday (14 Jan) which brings the total infected tally in India to 36.58 million.
Fatalities grew by another 315, which brought the death toll to 485,350.
Image source: Google Maps