The Haridwar Kumbh Mela, which is being attended by hundreds of thousands of people every day, is being held at a time when India is battered by a rapidly spreading second wave of Covid-19. A majority of the 5 million people who took part in the last two royal baths (Shahi Snan) held on April 12 and April 14

The festival of Kumbh Mela has long rung alarm bells among health experts who say it could turn into a "super-spreader" as pilgrims return home to their towns and villages all across India. Health department officials have detected 1,701 Covid-19 cases in the past five days at the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. The cases include commoners and seers of different akharas (ascetic groups). These include reports of both RT-PCR tests and Rapid Antigen tests used to detect the viral disease.

Experts have warned that holding such a large gathering in the midst of a raging pandemic can prove to be catastrophic and severely impede India's fight against the deadly viral disease that has claimed millions of lives globally.The Kumbh Mela area is spread over 670 hectares covering parts of Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal, and Dehradun districts of Uttarakhand.For more than one week now, India has been reporting over 1 lakh daily cases. On Friday, the country reported 2,16,000 Covid-19 cases.