A government-mandated study has found no traces of novel coronavirus in Ganga waters after dead bodies were fished out from the river in some districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the peak of the second wave, sources said Wednesday. 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. “None of the samples collected had traces of SARS-CoV2," the sources said. 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. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were badly hit when the second wave of coronavirus swept the country.

Source: Mint July 08, 2021 00:11 UTC