Devotees visiting the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala will have to carry with them a Covid-19 negative certificate after undergoing an RT-PCR test, the Kerala High Court and state government have directed.
The management, Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), has also said the RT-PCR test certificate, taken not more than 48 hours prior to their visit to the temple, is mandatory for pilgrims from December 26. N Vasu, TDB president, said in a release, “Covid-19-negative certificate after a RT-PCR test, taken not more than 48 hours prior to their visit to the temple, is a must for the pilgrims to visit the shrine. Else they will not be permitted to undertake the pilgrimage,”.
The recent directive by the High Court has also raised the number of pilgrims permissible daily to 5,000. In the view of the increase in the number of permitted pilgrims at the hill shrine, the state Health Department has intensified the antigen testing in Sabarimala.
The temple will remain shssut after the Mandala Puja on December 26 and reopen for the Makaravilakku pooja on December 31. This is the first annual pilgrimage season at the hill temple after the coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile, over 5,000 new cases of coronavirus were recorded in Kerala on Friday, including 46 health workers, and the test positivity rate touched 11.4%. The death toll mounted to 2,930 with 16 deaths being added to the tally. With this, the Covid-19 caseload in the state mounted to 7,32,084 and the total recoveries touched 6,64,951.
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