The widespread scare of COVID-19 seems to have no impact on the rush to Tirumala, the abode of Lord Sri Venkateswara. The average number of devotees remains at 75,000 per day touching close to 1 lakh during weekends.
The rush is expected to increase in the ensuing holidays. A majority of pilgrims visiting Tirumala belongs to Tamil Nadu. In view of COVID-19 threat, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has advised devotees against visiting the Venkateswara temple not to come for darsan if they have even slightest symptoms of cold, sore throat or fever.
After a review meeting convened by TTD chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy and executive officer Anil Singhal, additional executive officer A.V. Dharma Reddy told The Hindu on Sunday that there was no need to panic as the administration had taken all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Since several thousands of devotees come from across India, a decision had been taken to procure thermal guns to screen the devotees before they entered the main temple.
“We have advised pilgrims not to come to the temple if they have symptoms of cold, sore throat or fever. Medical teams have been stationed at the Alipiri security point and the main entrance to intercept visibly sick persons and check their health condition. Announcements are being made on the hill on the dos and dont’s. We have also appealed to the devotees to bring face masks/hand sanitisers and keep a three-feet distance from others,” he said.
Mr. Dharma Reddy said areas of congregation were being sanitised by special teams of the Health department at regular intervals. “Floors, hand rails, toilets and corridors leading to the main temple are being thoroughly cleaned with disinfectants every two hours. Quarantine facility has been created at the hospital in Tirumala whereas testing facility and isolation ward are available at the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati.”
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The staff were given sufficient number of masks/hand sanitisers. He said there was no case of suspicion where samples were taken for analysis. Audio/video announcements were being made to create awareness on the safety aspects with specific regard to the virus.
At the TTD temple in Chennai, instructions were given to instal hand sanitisers at the main entrance, Local Area Committee president and special invitee to the Board of Trustees J. Sekar said. Special teams were constantly monitoring the flow of devotees. ‘We also want to appeal to the devotes not to visit the temple if they have any symptom of cough, cold and fever,” he said.