New Delhi: At a time when the deadly second wave of COVID-19 pandemic is raging across the country, large crowds gathered at Kurnool’s district Kairuppala village in Andhra Pradesh as part of Ugadi, the Telugu new year, celebrations that began on Tuesday, April 13.
Videos emerged from the event show groups of people divided into batches throwing cow dung cakes at each other as part of a tradition. There were no masks, no social distancing, or any COVID-19 appropriate behaviour as people jostled for space.
Similarly in Kallur, another village in the same district, crowds gathered for a three-day event that included a procession of bulls perambulating the local Chowdeshwari temple. The celebration, meant for agricultural prosperity, also witnessed processions by dressed-up donkeys and crowds running through slush resembling farms.
To entertain those gathered at the venue, there were giant wheels and joy rides on the offering, a few metres away from the temple, and many of them were seen without masks.
In fact, the district from where these crowded events are being reported is recording the second highest number of Coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh. On April 14, Kurnool district reported 626 cases, after Chittor district’s 835 cases. The state has been recording as many as 5,000 cases nearly every day.
Due to surging numbers, even chief minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy had cancelled a pre-election public meeting in Chittoor district ahead of the Tirupati Lok Sabha by-poll on April 17.
