Seventy lakh devotees participated in Haridwar's Kumbh Mela, which ended Friday after triggering a scare that it might have acted as a coronavirus "super-spreader".
Despite the huge number of people gathering around Haridwar to take a dip in the holy Ganga, the 2021 event was a comparatively modest event -- reduced to just one month and scaled down midway due to the raging pandemic.
About 2,600 devotees tested positive out of the nearly two lakh tests conducted by medical personnel during the mela. The central and Uttarakhand govts were widely criticised for going ahead with the mammoth religious gathering amid the alarming second wave of coronavirus across the country.