*Kumbh Mela: how a superspreader festival seeded Covid across India.*

All around the world, fervent religion has been deadly in spreading Covid-19. We have seen this with Christianity in Brazil, South Korea, the US of course; with Judaism in the US, and now with Hinduism in India.

If death followed quickly, it would be easier for believers to stay in touch with reality. But nobody is likely to die of Covid-19 from a religious ceremony until a couple of weeks later, and most of the victims will not have participated in the ceremony themselves, but rather got the disease indirectly via participants.