New Delhi, June 18:
Traces of novel coronavirus have been found in water samples taken from the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad. The virus was found in samples taken from the city’s Kankria and Chandola lakes as well.
The samples from the Sabarmati river and Chandola and Kankria lakes were collected by researchers of IIT, Gandhinagar and Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of Environment Science.
Professor Manish Kumar of the Earth Sciences department in IIT, Gandhinagar, said that the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in lakes and rivers could lead to a dangerous state of affairs.
Professor Kumar said they had collected the water samples once every week between September 3 and December 29, 2019. While 694 samples were collected from the Sabarmati river, 549 were taken from Chandola lake and 402 from Kankria lake.
The researchers want similar tests to be conducted across the country. They said the virus could live in natural waters for far too long.
In India, Karnataka became the first state to introduce a city sewage surveillance system in Bengaluru earlier this week to identify potential Covid-19 clusters.
Earlier, dead bodies of Covid-19-infected persons were found floating in the River Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Local reports claimed more than 100 bodies were dumped into the river.
(Courtesy IndiaToday)
