Kerala's famous Sabrimala Temple on Saturday opened its doors for devotees for five days to conduct monthly rituals amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The temple will remain open from today till July 21.
According to temple authorities, a maximum of 5000 devotees will be permitted to enter the temple with prior registration through an online booking system.
Moreover, the devotees will also have to produce a complete Covid-19 vaccination certificate or a negative RT-PCR report within 48 hours of the visit.
Notably, Kerala is one of the worst COVID-affected states in the country.
A lockdown had been imposed in the state earlier in April when the second COVID wave hit to tackle the worrying rise in COVID-19 cases. Months later, the state is still recovering from the wave, with daily cases hovering between 10,000 to 15,000 for the last few weeks.
A weekend lockdown is still in place in the state. As many as 13,773 cases were reported on Thursday. As per the union health ministry, there are currently 1,22,436 active cases. A total of 29,93,242 recoveries and 15,155 deaths have been reported so far.
