Sabarimala Dharmasastha Temple reopens for devotees

Sabrimala: Devotees gathered at Dharmasastha Temple of Sabrimala to offer monthly prayers to Lord Ayyappa for the month of 'Kanni', informed the Devaswam board on Thursday.

Devotees will be allowed for monthly puja till September 21. The corona vaccine certificate is mandatory for the devotees visiting the temple. Also, all the guidelines related to Corona were being followed inside the premises. Only 15,000 people are allowed to enter temple premises in a day.

Entry is allowed only through online registration. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had made it mandatory to carry a COVID-19 negative certificate within 48 hours of online registration.

Around seven months after it was closed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the doors of the Sabarimala temple were thrown open for devotees from October 16, 2020, albeit with certain restrictions.

Earlier, on Thursday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that almost 68 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases reported in India are from Kerala. Kerala has over 1.99 lakh active cases.