Corpses didn’t contaminate Ganga water: Study

PATNA: No trace of the novel coronavirus was found in water samples collected from the Ganga in some Bihar and Uttar Pradesh districts where bodies of suspected Covid-19 victims had washed ashore a few months ago, according to a multi-agency study anchored by the National Mission for Clean Ganga.
“Our teams collected samples from several districts of Bihar and UP and sent them to CSIR-IITR Lucknow.The report will be officially released in a couple of days. The main finding is that the water had not been contaminated by bodies supposedly infected with the virus,” state pollution control board chairperson Ashok Ghosh said.
RT-PCR test was done to determine the viral load on the water body after extraction of ribonucleic acid from the samples. The study also checked the biological characteristics of the river.