Study says no traces of COVID-19 in River Ganga

New Delhi, July 08: In a major sign of relief, a study 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's) Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Lucknow, the Central Pollution Control Board and the state pollution control boards, has suggested that no traces of the novel coronavirus have been found in River Ganga.

According to reports, the Centre had formed the panel to study the possibility of traces of COVID-19 after dead bodies were seen floating from the Ganga river in some districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the peak of the second wave of coronavirus.

The panel conducting the study collected the samples from Kannuj, Unnao, Kanpur, Hamirpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Balia, Buxar, Ghazipur, Patna and Chhapra, a news agency said.

"None of the samples collected had traces of SARS-CoV2," the news agency quoted people associated with the study as saying.