The ongoing Kumbh Mela should not be compared with the Nizamuddin Markaz, said Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat on Tuesday. Markaz function held last year in Delhi was labelled as a ‘super spreader’ event after several delegates contracted COVID-19 at the annual event. 

“There should be no comparison between Kumbh and Markaz. The Markaz was held in a closed space, in a Kothi-like structure whereas the Kumbh is being held in the open on the sprawling ghats of the Ganga,” the Uttarakhand CM said while talking during a weekly talk show organised by the Hindustan Times.

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Hundreds of devotees at Kumbh have been seen flouting COVID-19 norms in the past days. On Tuesday, 594 people tested positive for coronavirus in Haridwar. Over 1,000 contracted the COVID-19 in the town in the last two days, April 12 and 13. 

“The devotees attending Kumbh are not from outside but our own people,” Rawat said, citing differences between the two. In the Markaz event at Delhi’s Nizamuddin, foreigners were also present. 

He further said that when the Markaz was held, people were not aware about the guidelines of coronavirus and no one knew for how long the attendees of the event were on the premises. 

“Now there is more awareness both about COVID-19 and the guidelines related to it,” the Tirath Singh Rawat said. 

Kumbh, which comes once in 12 years, is linked with the faith and sentiments of millions of people, the CM said, and added, “Holding it successfully amid the challenge posed by COVID-19 by ensuring that the SOP is strictly followed by all is our goal.”

Apart from 594 cases of coronavirus recorded in Haridwar, 775 people tested for the COVID-19 disease in Dehradun in the last 24 hours.