Up to 22 devaswom employees reportedly tested positive for the virus on Friday.
Devotees will not be able to enter the famous temple of Lord Krishna here for two weeks starting on Saturday and the Thrissur district administration declared the area around it a COVID-19 containment zone.
The decision to ban darshan for devotees for two weeks was made at an urgent meeting of the Guruvayur Devaswom Administrative Committee on Friday, authorities said.
According to temple sources, up to 22 devaswom employees tested positive for the infection on Friday.
The Thrissur district, in which Guruvayur is located, reported 272 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and 393 on Thursday.
In announcing the decision to close the temple for public darshan, a press release from devaswom said that all regular pujas and basic rituals will be held in the temple complex as usual.
As of December 12, the virtual queue and direct darshan, as well as the near darshan of ‘deepasthambham’ and ‘Thulabharam’ and other offers have been canceled, according to the statement.
Couples who have already arrived at the temple for the wedding scheduled for Saturday will be able to perform the ceremony following the strict COVID-19 protocol.
However, after Saturday, no marriages would be allowed for two weeks, temple authorities said.
The meeting also decided to subject all devaswom officials to an antigen or RT-PCR test within the next three days, after which they would be tested once a month.
Temple sources said a total of 153 Guruvayur Devaswom employees underwent the antigen test on Friday and 22 of them tested positive for the viral infection.
The temple of Lord Krishna, which attracts large numbers of devotees from all over the state and abroad, was closed for the first time for darshan on March 24 in view of the national closure.
It reopened for five days in June, but was closed again due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in the Thrissur district at the time.
Devotees were allowed from September 10 with strict COVID-19 protocol after online registration for darshan.
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