Festival season raises fears of renewed virus surge in India

Effigies of a mythical demon king stand for sale by the side of a road ahead of the Hindu festival of Dussehra (Manish Swarup/AP)

Just weeks after India fully opened following a harsh lockdown and began to modestly turn a corner by cutting new coronavirus infections by nearly half, a Hindu festival season is raising fears that a fresh surge could spoil the hard-won gains.

“I’d be very worried about what we are going to see in India,” said Dr Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health and a leading infectious disease expert.