Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi Temple shuts down as employees test positive for coronavirus

Places of worship in Vizag opened doors to the public a couple of weeks ago as per the Ministry of Health and state government’s guidelines. However, the famous Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi temple in Burujupeta and the Ambika Bagh temple near Jagadamba junction in Vizag shut down on Monday, after a few employees tested positive for coronavirus.

As per reports, four staff members, including a priest in Ambika Bagh temple, an employee at the Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi Temple, two sweepers, and one musician tested positive for coronavirus. The temple authorities have revealed that 116 employees of the Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi temple and 10 staff members of the Ambika temple were sent for coronavirus tests on Friday. The results that came in on Sunday revealed that five of the 126 samples are positive for COVID-19. Following this, the authorities decided to shut down both the temples and disinfect thoroughly with sodium hypochlorite solution. The temples will be reopened to the public after seeking advice from higher authorities.

It may be recalled that the Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi temple opened for devotees post lockdown with complete safety measures in place, two weeks ago. Face masks were made compulsory for all devotees, while signs for maintaining social distancing within the temple were made ahead of the reopening. Temperature checks were conducted for all devotees and sanitisers installed at the temple entrance for the safety of both devotees and employees.

The temple authorities speculated that the employees could have contracted coronavirus from their residential areas, as all precautions were being followed with due diligence inside the temple premises. It has been reported that all five employees are asymptomatic. Local authorities are currently on the lookout for all the patients’ primary contacts.

Visakhapatnam, on Sunday, recorded its biggest single-day spike with 53 new coronavirus cases across the district. The district tally stood at 766 as of last evening.