No traces of coronavirus have been found in the water of the Ganges. A study was conducted by the government after bodies were fished out of the river in some districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the peak of the second wave of Covid-19.
Speaking to The Daily Guardian, Dr Neeraj Rai of Birbal Sahni Paleontology Institute, Lucknow, said: “Many types of bacteria are found in Ganga, which have the ability to destroy viruses. Apart from this, Ganga water is anti-viral.”
The study was conducted in two phases with the samples being taken from Kannuj, Unnao, Kanpur, Hamirpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Balia, Buxar, Ghazipur, Patna and Chhapra, the sources added.
Speaking to The Daily Guardian, Dnyaneshwar Choubey, professor of biology at Banaras Hindu University, said that samples have been collected from different places in Ganga. In addition to running water, those places were also selected where there is stagnation in the Ganga water. The report of samples of all these waters, however, has come negative.
The study was conducted by the National Mission for Clean Ganga under the Jal Shakti Ministry, in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Lucknow, the Central Pollution Control Board, and the state pollution control boards.
The virological study extracted the RNA of the viruses from the water samples to conduct an RT-PCR test to determine the viral load in the water body. The study also included checking the biological characteristics of the river.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were badly hit when the second wave of coronavirus swept the country. There was also a fear whether the bodies, possibly of Covid-19 infected patients, had led to the contamination of the river water which is a major source of drinking for the population in the districts along it. After this, along with its investigation, the Central government was asked to find out the presence of corona in the Ganges.