In the wake of the rising cases of Coronavirus, the Uttarakhand government on Thursday suspended Char Dham Yatra, which was scheduled to begin next month, this year in the state. Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat announced that only priests of the four temples will perform rituals and puja this year.
The move to suspend the Char Dham Yatra comes at a time when Uttarakhand recorded the highest single-day spike of 6,054 new Covid 19 cases on Wednesday, taking the tally to 1,68,616.
Before the drastic increase in the number of Covid cases, the state government had given the green signal to hold the annual Char Dham Yatra from May 14 whilst observing Covid guidelines.
Meanwhile, adding pressure to the already ongoing Covid crisis, over 3,000 infected patients have gone missing in Bengaluru and many have switched off their phones. Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka said that the government has requested the police to trace them as soon as possible.
Ashoka said that most of the infected people have switched off their phones and are not letting people know about their whereabouts, which is making things difficult. He said, most of such patients “reach hospitals in a critical stage, desperately looking for ICU beds.”
He added, "I feel that at least 2,000 to 3,000 people in Bengaluru have switched off their phones and left their houses. We don't know where they have gone."
To control the spread of the contagion, the state government has imposed a 14-day lockdown, restricting unnecessary movement if people.
