Priest, 15 cops involved in Ayodhya event test Covid +ve

A priest and 15 policemen on duty at the Ram temple site in Ayodhya, where the ground-breaking ceremony for the temple will take place next week, have tested positive for coronavirus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the ceremony along with 50 VVIPs. For the ceremony on August 5, 11 priests from Varanasi and Ayodhya will perform the puja. Pradeep Das, priest who tested positive, is not part of this group of 11.

The mandir trust has decided to get the entire Ram Janmabhoomi campus sanitised on a daily basis. "One of the priests who performs daily rituals at the temple site has tested positive. The entire campus will be sanitised on a routine basis,” said Mahant Kamal Nayan Das said, the Hindustan Times has reported.

The UP govt has been preparing for days for the grand event amid the rising coronavirus cases in the state.