Varanasi: A technical study led by a team of scientists from the Banaras Hindu University and Lucknow's Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences has found traces of the SARS-CoV2 virus in the Gomti river, while there was no trace of the deadly virus found in the Ganges. The study was held amid fears of virus spread after several bodies were found floating in the Ganga and Yamuna. This also led to several devotees expressing their fears of taking a dip (Ganga bath) in the river.
The report was released following joint research by both the teams of Banaras Hindu University and Lucknow's Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences. As a part of the research, the scientists had collected samples of Ganga water from different places in Varanasi for four consecutive weeks. The water samples collected, were then subjected to a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) in the laboratory by Dr Neeraj Rai of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleontology, Lucknow. After a month-long investigation, the river Ganges has been declared Covid free, while traces of the virus was found in the samples collected from the Gomti river.
Read: Study finds no traces of novel coronavirus in Ganga
Dr Neeraj Rai of Birbal Sahni Paleontology Institute speaking over the phone, said that several types of bacteria are found in the Ganges which have the ability to kill viruses and hence no trace of the Coronavirus could be found. Apart from this, the Ganga water also contains anti-viral properties, he added.
Speaking about the same, Prof Gyaneshwer Chaubey from BHU's Dept of Zoology, said that the samples were collected from both flowing water and areas where water had stagnated. "Following the spotting of bodies in river Ganga, there were several apprehensions among people living close to the banks of virus spread, It was in these circumstances that we laid out a plan to ensure that water samples from the Ganga would be collected every week. This would include flowing as well as stagnated water. Dr Neeraj Rai of Birbal Sahni Paleontology Institute had conducted a study in his laboratory, wherein Gomti river samples tested positive and Ganga river samples tested negative. We would also continue to find the reason as to why the Coronavirus was not traced in river Ganga," Prof Gyaneshwer Chaubey said.
