Elephant turns violent during Thaipooya festival in Kerala (viral video)

An elephant named Ootooly Anandan turned violent during the Thaipooya festival at Koorkanchery in Kerala's Thrissur district.

Of the four mahouts on the elephant, two jumped off and escaped. The elephant turned violent at the conclusion of the temple musical ritual, Panchavadyam. The elephant was brought in control after 30 minutes. 

At the Thaipooya festival at #Thrissur's Koorkanchery, elephant Ootooly Anandan became violent.

WATCH what happens next: pic.twitter.com/XRIoCX7Tkv

— Asianet Newsable (@AsianetNewsEN) January 18, 2022

Since Covid protocol was in place, the police could control the crowd without much difficulty. Meanwhile, the Kerala government on Tuesday decided to strictly implement the COVID-19 health protocols in the wake of a massive surge in the number of cases in the state. On Tuesday, the state reported over 28,500 new infections.

The Pinarayi Vijayan government will hold a discussion on Thursday to decide on a slew of measures, including the closure of colleges and offices and curbs on people travelling in public transport, after assessing the prevailing Covid-19 situation. The fresh surge has seen a number of state ministers and MLAs testing positive. The latest to join the list are state General Education Minister V Sivankutty and Kazhakootam MLA Kadakampally Surendran. 

At the same time, according to reports, around 650 police personnel have tested positive for Coronavirus. These include police officers posted at around eight police stations in Thiruvananthapuram city and rural areas. The positive test result came mostly among those who returned from Sabarimala temple duty. The state road transport KSRTC too has a number of its employees infected with the virus, affecting services on certain routes. As many as 24 security staff of the Padmanabha Swamy temple have also tested positive.