Covid-19: Holi celebrations banned in Delhi and Mumbai

Authorities in Delhi and Mumbai today banned public celebration of Holi, the Hindu festival of colour, next week amidst rising cases of Covid-19, our Delhi correspondent reports.

Noting that there has been a persistent rise in Covid-19 cases in Delhi in the last fortnight, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority said, "It is anticipated that the gatherings, congregations and public celebrations during upcoming festivals like Holi, Shab-e-Barat and Navratri may pose a considerable threat to the spread of the virus and may cause a setback to the appreciable gains made in the suppression of chain of transmission of Covid-19 cases.

"Considering this, it has been decided that public celebrations and all gatherings/congregations during upcoming festivities should not be allowed in public places," it said.

The Delhi government also ordered random testing of coronavirus at the airport in Delhi, railway and bus stations.

Delhi today recorded 1,101 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest in over three months.

However, Delhi is not among the seven Indian states, including Maharashtra, Punjab and Kerala, which are witnessing a sharp spike in cases in the last one month.

The civic authorities in Mumbai barred the celebration of Holi in both public and private as the 24-hour count of fresh cases crossed the 3,500 in India's financial capital.

The spike in cases of infections is viewed as the emergent second wave of the virus.