Kerala government has made COVID-19 test mandatory for pilgrims who wish to attend the Sabarimala temple festival, which will commence on November 16. Only those with the coronavirus-negative certificate will be allowed entry into the temple for darshan, said Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran.
“It has been decided that the Sabarimala pilgrimage will be conducted following all COVID-19 protocols. Devotees must produce COVID-19 test negative certificate. The flow of pilgrims will also be regulated using the virtual queue system,” said Kadamkampally, who announced the decision after meeting for the preparation of the annual temple festival in mid-November.
The Sabarimala VirtualQ system, maintained by the Kerala police, will allow devotees to book a slot. This system was launched during the 2011-12 pilgrimage season.
Although the Kerala government has made COVID-19 test mandatory, it has not specified what type of COVID-19 test the devotees will have to take, and would there be a separate system to test devotees for this purpose. If this section of people is tested for COVID-19 using antigen test, the results returning negative for SARS-CoV-2 should be confirmed using RT-PCR test. However, several medical experts have raised concerns that the state lacks adequate capacity to carry out RT-PCR tests.
The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the Sabarimala temple, had planned to open the temple for monthly rituals on June 14. However, Sabarimala temple tantri (chief priest) KM Mohanaru was sceptical about allowing devotees to come back to the temple.
“Imagine the number of people who will have to go into quarantine if one person tested positive for the virus,” Mohanaru told TNM. “Besides, the number of COVID-19 cases in Kerala are increasing. However, since the festival is only in November, we hope the situation will be better,” he added.
N Vasu, the president of Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), said that a final decision on the pilgrimage will be taken after further reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the state. He said that only some of the basic preparations were discussed at the meeting on Monday.
Devaswom Minister Kadakampally said that since the pilgrimage cannot be conducted in a full-fledged manner, it was decided to take preparatory measures and ensure coordination for this year's pilgrimage in a time-bound manner.
Notably, the Tirumala temple in Andhra Pradesh was opened on June 11, after remaining closed for nearly 80 days. Since then, 743 employees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) have contracted COVID-19. Among them, three have died, and 402 have recovered, while 338 people are undergoing treatment.
Authorities have repeatedly denied that none of the devotees who visited the temple was infected or could have contracted the disease from the TTD employees.