One of the servitors of
Shree Jagannath Temple tested positive for COVID-19 during mandatory testing of
priests and police personnel ahead of the annual Rath Yatra on Tuesday, a
senior official said.
The servitor will not
be part of any ritual related to the Rath Yatra, he said.
Samples of 1,143
servitors were tested on Monday night, as per directives of the Supreme Court.
"Except one, reports
of all the others came out negative. The servitor who tested positive has been
shifted to a COVID-19 hospital," the official said, adding that contact
tracing has been initiated.
Modifying its earlier
order, the apex court on Monday gave the go-ahead for the Rath Yatra after
taking note of the Odisha government's assurance that it "can be held in a
limited way without public attendance".
Each chariot would be
pulled by not more than 500 people and all of them have to test negative for
coronavirus, the top court said.
It also directed that those
engaged in pulling the chariots shall maintain social distancing before, during
and after the Rath Yatra.
The rituals involve three
chariots -- Lord Jagannath's Nandighosh, Lord Balabhadra's Taladwaja and Devi
Subhadra's Darpadalan.
'Pahandi' (procession where
the deities are carried from the temple to the chariots) was carried out in the
morning by servitors who tested negative for COVID-19, a temple official said.
"All entry points into
Puri -- airports, railway stations, bus stands -- shall be closed during the
period of Rath Yatra festival," the Supreme Court had said in its order.
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