MUMBAI (Reuters) – An increase in coronavirus infections on Friday brought India closer to the 3 million mark, presbbiing the government to avoid mass demonstrations this weekend as Mumbai celebrates the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh.
For the maximum of western India, especially the country’s monetary capital, Ganesh Chaturthi marks the start of an 11-day festival marked through giant public celebrations.
Social media has flooded with photographs of shoppers in the markets to buy flowers and sweets, but the Ganesh festival is expected to be quieter this year.
“You can see that everyone’s outlets are full of idols.No one comes to buy anything,” he told Reuters Ramdas Ghodekar, who sells Ganesh idols in downtown Mumbai.
India has reported 68898 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the third consecutive increase above 60,000, bringing the total to 2.91 million, the third worst in the world after the United States and Brazil.
Deaths greater than 983 to 54,849.
Cases have stabilized in Mumbai, which now averages 1,000 per day and recorded more than 120,000 in total, but the strict government has made the festival season, which begins this month, boring.
“People are buying less expensive idols and cutting their budgets because there have been pay cuts and job losses.Last year I sold all the idols in my store, this year I will sell some of them,” said idol creator Nandkumar Patil.
India imposed a strict closure in March, at the start of the epidemic, and in several cities such as Mumbai, public transport, grocery stores and theaters remain closed.
Report via Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Edited through Shri Navaratnam and Giles Elgood
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