Thousands of Indian pilgrims ignored high levels of COVID infections to bathe in the waters of the Ganges during a religious festival.

Footage captured on January 14 showed religious Hindus wading into the river in Garh Mukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh for the Makar Sankranti festival.

Despite high levels of COVID in India, the country's major cities have reported a fall in infections in the last few days.

Mumbai's daily new infections fell below 10,000 on Sunday (January 16) for the first time since early this month, after touching an all-time high of 20,971 on January 7

Amid the COVID-19 surge, a large number of people on Friday took a holy dip on the occasion of Makar Sankranti at Garhmukteshwar in Uttarpradesh.Held during the winters, this Mela is an annual gathering of pilgrims that see a number of rituals, lit lamps, and chanting in and around the Ganga River.The holy bath began at midnight as pilgrims from different parts of the country gathered at the confluence braving cold and steady drizzle.

Makar Sankranti or Maghi is a festival in the Hindu calendar, in which devotees make offerings to the deity Surya. The day marks the first day of the sun`s transit into the Makara, marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days.

India reported 2,64,202 fresh COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours.A total of 5,753 Omicron cases are amongst all Covid cases reported so far.