Around 25,000 people turned up for the final day of a religious river dipping ceremony in the Indian city of Haridwar, Uttarakhand, on April 27, Indian media reported.

Known as the Shahi Snan (Royal Bath), the event was part of one of the world's largest religious festivals, known as the Kumbh Mela, in which pilgrims immerse themselves in the Ganges river to cleanse their sins.

The event took place on April 27 as India reels from a second wave of Covid-19, and the country's daily cases have been setting and breaking its own record, with over 300,000 new cases recorded each day for the past week.

A curfew was subsequently imposed on the city the day after, on April 28, and will be in effect until May 3.

Kumbh Mela Inspector-General: Attendees wore masks and adhered to social distancing

The Inspector-General of the Kumbh Mela, Sanjay Gunjyal, was further quoted by The Indian Express as saying that the akharas (religious groups) had helped to keep the crowd low, while attendees of the festivals had worn masks and adhered to social distancing.

He added that this followed an appeal by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on April 17, that participation in the festival be done in a "symbolic" manner.

Sanjay also highlighted that police personnel had also been part of the event, while he had visited each akhara's camp to ensure that attendance was restricted.

However, a different image of the event was reported by The Scroll which said that for days in which a Shahi Snan was held (April 12, April 14 and April 27), testing, mask-wearing, thermal-screening, and the checking of negative test reports were ignored.

A similar image was also reported by The Print which noted that there was no social distancing or wearing of masks.

Uttarakhand: People take holy dip in river Ganga in Haridwar on Chitra Purnima today. The last 'shahi snan' of #KumbhMela2021 is taking place today. pic.twitter.com/rnF0UN8mU0

— ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2021

Cancellation of festival was ruled out

Modi has since been criticised for initially endorsing the festival and intervening too late.

The Scroll further reported that the state's Chief Minister dismissed the comparison to another religious gathering, the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in March 2020, which saw a few thousand Muslims gather at the Nizamuddin Markaz Mosque in New Delhi.

The gathering was later linked to a number of Covid-19 clusters around the country.

He was quoted as saying:

"They [Markaz attendees] were all inside a building and here it is out in the open and this is near the Ganges. The flow and blessings of Ma Ganga will ensure that coronavirus does not spread. The question does not arise of a comparison."

State officials also ruled out cancelling the festival despite 2,000 testing positive for the virus over a period of five days.

India sets new daily Covid-19 record

As of April 29, India's total number of Covid-19 cases crossed the 18-million mark, according to Reuters, with 379,257 new cases and 3,645 new deaths — the highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic began.

Hospitals, morgues and crematoriums have been overwhelmed while Indian netizens have complained online that they have not been able to sign up or register for vaccination slots as the website has repeatedly crashed.

However, a statement by the government issued on April 28 said, "Statistics indicate that far from crashing or performing slowly, the system is performing without any glitches."

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