ISKCON Temple suspends public visits amid coronavirus outbreak

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], Mar 18 (ANI): The officials at the ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) Temple announced that public visits to the temple have been suspended from today till further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"The health and safety of the public is of paramount importance. I know this step has disappointed many devotees but I would urge the devotees not to panic as this is just a precautionary measure," Naveen Neerada Dasa, spokesperson ISKCON Temple told ANI.
He further said: "Social distancing is the best way to avoid the spread of Coronavirus--it is just for a few weeks. But at the same time, the daily temple aartis and special sevas will continue to be conducted by the resident devotees of the ISKCON temple."
These can be viewed live on the official website of the Temple.
"Even the resident devotees are taking extreme precautions; we have sanitisers installed everywhere. Even during artis, we maintain a distance of 3 feet from each other," Dasa added.
On Tuesday, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board appealed to the pilgrims to postpone their visit to the temple till normalisation of the situation.
The shrine board has also stepped up its preparedness to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and is conducting thermal screening at several points of the pilgrimage.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India has reached 147, including 122 Indians and 25 foreign nationals, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.
Globally, the virus has infected more than 184,000 people and killed more than 7500, as per the data available on the World Health Organisation website. (ANI)