Covid-19 negative certificate mandatory for visitors of the Sabarimala temple

The Sabarimala temple opened on Thursday morning for the “Uthram festival” at the hill shrine in Kerala, which will remain open till March 28. Covid-19 negative certificate is mandatory for devotees who want to visit the temple.
The issue of Sabarimala women’s entry is back in the limelight in the state, as both the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and BJP-led National Democratic Front (NDA) are using it as a major poll plank for campaigning in the ensuing assembly election.
Yesterday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state government will take a decision after consulting with all believers once the final verdict on the temple comes, both Congress and BJP mounted pressure on the Left to clarify if they would submit a new affidavit in Supreme Court on Sabarimala.
The election for 140-member Kerala Assembly will be held on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)
Among the districts, Kozhikode reported 213 cases, the highest in the state, followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 200 cases and Kollam 188.
Meanwhile, 2,119 people recuperated from the disease, taking the total recoveries in the state to 10,68,378. There are 25,158 people under treatment and 1,31,924 under observation in the state, out of which 3,892 are in isolation wards of various hospitals. Two new regions were removed from the list of hot spots and now there are 353 in the state.
State Health Minister KK Shailaja said the state has tested 54,314 samples in the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 3.5 per cent. Till now, 1.25 crore samples have been tested.
Report by Chetali S M
Reported on – 19/03/2021