Republic Day participants undergo Covid test before parade

As preparations for the upcoming Republic Day are currently in progress in New Delhi, several of its participants were subjected to a Covid-19 test on Friday.

India will be celebrating its 72nd Republic Day on coming Tuesday.

However, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the celebrations are likely to be truncated. Last year’s Independence Day celebrations had been scaled down as well.

This will also be the first Republic Day without a foreign head of state as chief guest in 55 years.

Earlier in December, nearly 150 Army personnel who are in Delhi for the Republic Day parade tested positive for Covid-19. Official sources at the time said all those who tested positive were in a “safe bubble”.