Naked Hindu holy men gather to take holy dips in the Ganges River during Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, one of the most sacred pilgrimages in Hinduism, in Haridwar, the northern state of Uttarakhand. Tens of thousands of Hindu devotees moved towards the streets of Haridwar to the Ganges River for the shahi snan (Holy bath) or the royal bath, many of them flouting social distancing practices as the coronavirus spreads in India with record speed.The highlight of the event was the jubilant procession by groups of hundreds of thousands of Naga Sadhus, the naked holy men with long dreadlocks, their bodies smeared in ash, before their dip in the river Ganges.

Because of the pandemic the government has curtailed the Kumbh Mela event, a mass event held regularly in different cities every 12 years. Many have criticized the government for allowing the festival to go ahead amid a raging pandemic. All participants at this year's event, which runs until the end of April, are required to present a negative coronavirus test result before being allowed into the festival grounds.

India has been the world's worst-hit country since April 2, forcing states scrambling to impose curbs to control the virus. With 1,038 people dying in the same time span, the total fatalities rose to 1,73,123 in India.