Festivals without colour, Navratri sans celebrations

While the festivals have arrived, this time they feel colourless without celebrations and joy as the entire national capital is locked down due to outbreak of deadly coronavirus.

All religious places including temples and mosques have been closed as the city is under lockdown.

Speaking to IANS, Subrotto Kumar Chakraborty, priest at Saket's Mahamaya Temple said, "This time of crisis is to introspect within ourselves to find a solution to this pandemic. I appeal to the public to stay inside their homes and pray."

Regarding the rituals at the temple, he said, "The temple is open twice in the day, once in the morning for pooja and aarti and once in the evening for Sandhya Aarti."

There are at least 640 active COVID-19 cases in India at present, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Friday, taking the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country to 724.

Besides 640 active cases, the country has reported 17 casualties so far while 66 persons have recovered.

The disease has impacted at least 677 Indian nationals and 47 foreign nationals and has so far spread to 27 states and UTs. A total of 103 districts have been affected by the highly contagious virus. IANS