In an unexpected turn of events, the famous Kanipakam temple in Andhra’s Chittoor district has been closed after a guard working at the temple tested positive for coronavirus. The temple will be closed for 48 hours for disinfection and is expected to re-open on Thursday.

The Varasidhi Vinayaka Swamy Temple in Kanipakam is a popular pilgrim in Chittoor besides the Venkateswara temple in Tirumala and Srikalahasti temple, and it must be noted that recently there were corona positive cases identified at Srikalahasti temple and Tirupati temple as well.

The central government had announced relaxations which allowed the reopening of places of worship from June 8, which lead to reopening of many temples in Andhra Pradesh from June 10 or 11. When the temple authorities conducted trial runs with staff members and residents, and a routine testing was conducted for all staff members of the temple as a precautionary measure, the guard was found Corona positive.The Srikalahasti temple reopening was postponed after the temple priest tested positive for coronavirus.