CDMX government foresees the visit of more than 4 million pilgrims to the Basilica of Guadalupe

The Secretary of Government of Mexico City, Martí Batres, reported that until the afternoon of this Saturday they have arrived at the Basilica of Guadalupe around a million pilgrims and the arrival of three million more people is expected.

During a tour of the vicinity of the Basilica, the local official reported that so far there has been an “orderly” influx of visitors on the occasion of the celebrations of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Accompanied by the mayor of Gustavo A. Madero, Francisco Chíguil Figueroa, the Secretary of Government supervised the operation of the security operation implemented for this season.

Martí Batres detailed on his Twitter account that around 600 medical services have been offered, without any case of Covid-19 being reported so far.

More than 3,000 elements of the Secretariat of Citizen Security of the capital and Auxiliary Police have been deployed throughout the vicinity of the Basilica as part of the operation, reported Mayor Chíguil.

The Basilica of Guadalupe, which closed its doors due to the pandemic in 2020, resumed the celebrations on December 12 to receive some 4.2 million pilgrims, although with restrictions due to the new coronavirus pandemic that has claimed the lives of around 296,620 people in Mexico, according to the official data of the Ministry of Health reported this Saturday.

The Government of the capital and the Catholic Church decided that the Marian temple, one of the most visited in the world, would resume the commemoration of the apparitions of the “dark virgin”, of which 490 years have passed; However, the traditional religious ceremonies will not be carried out to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

This 2021, the celebrations are carried out with various sanitary measures, such as wearing masks, trying to keep distance and limit the passage of the faithful through the temple to minutes.

It is also forbidden to spend the night in the vicinity of the temple and a hostel that received pilgrims will remain closed.

In 2020, the temple closed its doors to celebrations due to the pandemic to avoid crowds and thus further infections. Precisely in December 2020, Mexico was heading towards the second wave of Covid-19, which reached its maximum in January.

Before the pandemic, according to Mayor Francisco Chíguil, the Basilica of Guadalupe has received up to 11 million pilgrims in these celebrations.

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