NEW DELHI, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Many people including women and children were injured during a stampede that took place at a Hindu temple in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, officials said Tuesday.
The stampede broke out Monday at the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain district, about 190 km west of Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh.
Officials said a huge crowd gathered at the temple and people were seen grossly flouting the COVID-19 norms and no social distancing was being observed.
"The incident took place at gate number four of the temple. After much jostling and pushing, the security cordon gave way and people simply rushed in. Several tumbled down and others fell over them," an official in the collector's office said.
A video of the incident shows a jampacked crowd struggling to enter the temple pushing barricades.
Ujjain district collector Ashish Singh told media that normalcy would return from next Monday.
"We will sit and plan for next Monday. COVID-19 protocol cannot be followed in the kind of free-for-all we had on Monday. There were also too many people in one go. We will revise the plan. We will ensure social distancing," Singh told reporters.
The temple reopened last month and authorities announced only visitors who have received the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 or had a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test report issued 48 hours prior to the visit will be allowed to go in.
Indian Medical Association (IMA), the country's premier doctors' body and the government have already raised an alarm about the possible third wave of COVID-19. Enditem
