In several areas of the nation, worshippers have started building ‘Corona Devi’ temples to explore spiritual methods of healing from infectious disease as the struggle against the deadly second wave of COVID-19 persists.

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ANI reported the residents of Shuklapur village in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, have built a temple under a neem tree in the hopes of receiving blessings from the goddess to aid in the fight against the pandemic.

Several videos and photographs have been circulating online, showing the temple with an idol of ‘Corona Mata’ wearing a green face mask.

According to ANI, the locals gathered finances to build the shrine themselves.

“Villagers collectively set up the temple with the belief that praying to the deity would definitely offer respite to people suffering from COVID-19,” a villager told the news agency ANI.

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However, as people continue to swarm into the shrine to worship ‘Corona Mata’ and get prasad from the priest, all Covid protocols have been thrown out the window.

Many comments pointed out that India has a longstanding tradition of praying to gods for protection from illnesses, as the videos and photos of the temple went viral.

Others quipped that the temple should have begun an on-site vaccination push instead of serving prasad.

Most people agreed that actions should be taken to ensure that devotees adhere to all social distancing rules.

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This isn’t the first time the country has seen a shrine devoted to ‘Corona Mata.’ Similar temples have already been built in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore and Karnataka’s Madhuvanahalli village.