A couple in northern India married in full personal protective equipment (PPE) on Sunday after the bride tested positive for coronavirus hours before the ceremony, Asian News International (ANI) reported on Monday.
The couple received permission from the local government to go through with the wedding ceremony if they agreed to follow strict coronavirus protection protocol, which included wearing full PPE. The Hindu wedding ceremony was presided over by a priest and attended by a single guest, both of whom also wore PPE suits. The wedding took place in the outdoor courtyard of the Kelwara Covid Center in Bara, Shahbad, a coronavirus quarantine facility located in southeastern Rajasthan state.
“The bride had been admitted to the center … after she and a family member tested positive [for coronavirus],” local health official Rajendra Meena told ANI.
“We consulted with the families and they agreed to get married in the quarantine center without any elaborate rituals,” Meena explained. The bride and groom were “placed in isolation at the center” following the ceremony, according to the health official.
ANI and the BBC published video footage of the ceremony online showing the couple sitting under a brightly colored canopy erected around a havan kund, or Hindu fire pit used for sacred rituals. The priest instructs the couple as they follow rituals typical of a Hindu wedding ceremony. The bride and groom managed to include other aspects of the traditionally lavish rite in their pared-down ceremony by exchanging floral garlands; the groom fit a Hindu wedding turban on top of his face shield. At the end of the ceremony, the couple was showered with flower petals by someone off-camera.
Several Indian states have imposed restrictions on the number of guests allowed at weddings during the coronavirus pandemic. India’s national capital, Delhi, announced in November that no more than 50 people are allowed to attend a wedding ceremony in the city. Typical Hindu wedding ceremonies in India, which is majority Hindu, are attended by hundreds of people.
India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, currently has the world’s second-highest coronavirus caseload after the U.S., with over 9.7 million confirmed infections. The South Asian giant recorded 26,567 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday over the past 24 hours, according to data from India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
“The total [number of] new active coronavirus cases [is] 3,83,866 after 39,045 fresh recoveries in the last 24 hours. The overall recoveries reached 91,78,946,” the Times of India reported on Tuesday.