Coronavirus: 743 workers of the Tirumala Tirupati temple trust test positive, three have died

As many as 743 employees of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams tested positive for the coronavirus since the Tirumala Venkateswara temple in Andhra Pradesh was reopened on June 11, PTI reported on Sunday. Three employees of the temple have succumbed to Covid-19 so far, the trust’s Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal said.

Among those who contracted the infection were personnel of the special protection force, vigilance department, sanitation workers, outsourced as well as regular workers, Singhal said, according to The News Minute. “A total of 402 people have recovered so far,” he added.

Singhal said about 2.38 lakh pilgrims had visited the shrine in July. The temple has been allowing darshan to 12,000 devotees every day since it reopened on June 11.

The temple trust official also denied reports that it was reopened amid the coronavirus outbreak to make profit. “Initially everyone appreciated the move of TTD,” he was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express

. Singhal added that the temple was blamed once the cases began to increase and suspected people with vested interests to be behind the rumours.

Singhal claimed the temple’s trust was spending more money in taking precautionary measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, than it was earning as revenue. “So far, devotees [have] expressed immense satisfaction over the arrangements of darshan,...

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