Today is Sriravamanavami. The authorities have already announced that devotees from any place will not be permitted into the Bhadradri Sri Ramachandra Swamy Temple for the celebrations. Nobody ever thought that such a situation would arise. Because of Coronavirus scare, already crowd-based events are being discouraged and prevented. Temples are no exception for this. All religious conventions and traditions are set aside. Devotees are told to watch Bhadradri Ramulavari Utsav on TV. Even in local temples in towns and cities, the situation is no different.
The Sitarama Swamy Temples everywhere are modestly illuminated and low-scale festival arrangements are made. The authorities have already given orders not to allow devotees and to gather crowds. Moreover, the national lockdown is in force. Even the police are not allowing people if they are gathering in groups of more than 10.
Vijayawada city is seeing tougher measures from officials in view of increasing number of cases. Krishna district has recorded 15 cases so far with most of these cases from Vijayawada itself. The epidemic is slowly transmitting from Delhi and foreign returnees to their family members and local contacts. In just one day, 24 new cases were recorded in AP and total cases went up to 111.