Ahmedabad, October 16: In a unique kind of a show, a group of students of fashion designing from Gujarat's Surat performed 'Garba' sporting hand-painted costumes made of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits. According to a tweet by ANI, these costumes have been designed by the students themselves. The students were seen performing 'garba' by forming circles wearing PPE suits along with face masks. Garba is a popular folk dance of Gujarat and is performed with passion and fervour during the Navratri festival. Navratri 2020 Celebrations: No Garba in Gujarat This Year Due to COVID-19 Pandemic.

Earlier this month, the Gujarat government decided not to allow Garba during Navratri from October 16. This means, this year Gujarat will play safe in the upcoming festivals considering the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the state. The grandeur associated with Navratri in Gujarat will be largely missing this year. The government said it will not allow any type of garba event in the state during Navratri, starting from October 17. It also released a set of guidelines for the festive season, which usually sees large gatherings, a fertile ground for COVID-19 spread.

Here's the tweet:

No big, medium or small scale garba event will be allowed in the state during the nine-day festival, the government said. The government will allow collective prayers to Goddess Durga where number of people should not be more than 200. In Gujarat, the COVID-19 tally mounted to 1,56,283 with as many as 1,185 persons tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours till Thursday. The  death toll due to coronavirus in Gujarat thus stands at 3,609 after 11 patients succumbed to COVID-19 during this period.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 16, 2020 08:32 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).