{"title":"An Aspect of <i>Kumbh Mela</i> Massive Gathering and COVID-19.","authors":"Sayed A Quadri, Prasad R Padala","doi":"10.1007/s40475-021-00238-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong><i>Kumbh Mela</i>, a religious gathering of Hindus held in India, is the largest massive gathering event in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented healthcare crisis in recent times with effects reverberating in all spheres of human lives. India has registered the second highest number of COVID-19 cases. This paper aims to dwell in the religious and social background of <i>Kumbh Mela</i> massive gathering, as well as the ritualistic practices that could potentially entail public health risks in the current situation. It also aims to identify possible preparatory and interventional measures to evade such risks.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>In recent years, the increase in the number of people attending the <i>Kumbh Mela</i> has been phenomenal. Congregants are put up at the holy sites for several days. The sheer number of people assembling at the religious venues poses a great challenge to manage the crowds, to cater to the requirements of basic amenities, and to meet their healthcare needs. Some of the ritualistic practices could heighten the risk for transmission of respiratory pathogens. The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated over the past few months in India. The pandemic is expected to sustain its tempo in India throughout the foreseeable future. Organization of the forthcoming <i>Kumbh Mela</i> needs meticulous planning.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong><i>Kumbh Mela</i> is a Hindu religious gathering at the banks of India's rivers, held periodically. It witnesses assembly of huge numbers of people and has the potential to amplify the COVID-19 pandemic in India; this could overwhelm the healthcare system.</p>","PeriodicalId":37441,"journal":{"name":"Current Tropical Medicine Reports","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1007/s40475-021-00238-1","citationCount":"21","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Tropical Medicine Reports","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40475-021-00238-1","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2021/3/29 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 21
Abstract
Purpose of review: Kumbh Mela, a religious gathering of Hindus held in India, is the largest massive gathering event in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented healthcare crisis in recent times with effects reverberating in all spheres of human lives. India has registered the second highest number of COVID-19 cases. This paper aims to dwell in the religious and social background of Kumbh Mela massive gathering, as well as the ritualistic practices that could potentially entail public health risks in the current situation. It also aims to identify possible preparatory and interventional measures to evade such risks.
Recent findings: In recent years, the increase in the number of people attending the Kumbh Mela has been phenomenal. Congregants are put up at the holy sites for several days. The sheer number of people assembling at the religious venues poses a great challenge to manage the crowds, to cater to the requirements of basic amenities, and to meet their healthcare needs. Some of the ritualistic practices could heighten the risk for transmission of respiratory pathogens. The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated over the past few months in India. The pandemic is expected to sustain its tempo in India throughout the foreseeable future. Organization of the forthcoming Kumbh Mela needs meticulous planning.
Summary: Kumbh Mela is a Hindu religious gathering at the banks of India's rivers, held periodically. It witnesses assembly of huge numbers of people and has the potential to amplify the COVID-19 pandemic in India; this could overwhelm the healthcare system.
期刊介绍:
Current Tropical Medicine Reports provides expert views on recent advances in the field of tropical medicine in a clear and readable form. This journal offers reviews by domestic and international contributors that highlight the most important, recent papers and findings related to this specific field. We accomplish this by appointing renowned leaders in major tropical medicine subject areas to select topics addressing virology, bacteriology, parasitology, entomology, immunology, cell and molecular biology, epidemiology, ecology, behavioral science and clinical medicine for review by experts who assess the latest developments and highlight significant papers published over the last few years on their topics. These review articles also stress recently published papers of importance in the references, which are accompanied by annotations explaining their importance. In addition to these Section Editors, our international Editorial Board ensures our journal upholds its standards.