COVID-19 traces found in Gujarat's Sabarmati river, 2 lakes in Ahmedabad: IIT study claims

In a recent development, a study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar has found the presence of COVID-19 in water samples obtained from the Sabarmati river and two lakes in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat. There were instances of corpses found floating in the Ganga that had led to many health experts raising concerns about the probable spread of Coronavirus through water bodies. 

But, the study funded by UNICEF, is yet to ascertain if the virus genes found in the water samples were alive or dead.

COVID corpses were found floating 

There were two instances of dead bodies found floating in the Ganga in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In May, the incidents occurred in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the peak of the second COVID wave. Due to lack of cremation grounds at the time, kin of the victims had reportedly disposed of the bodies in the river and so authorities recovered about 70 bodies. 

With these reference incidents, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had decided to send the water samples obtained during the recent IIT study to the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) for further investigation.

Harpalsinh Zala, the AMC's city engineer for Water Resources said, "The GBRC is the authorised agency of the AMC for water analysis. We have been sending samples to them for the last year and they submit their report to the state government. We have no idea about the IIT's research. However, we will now send samples of these water bodies to the GBRC for a similar analysis".

Research study

The study was led by Professor Manish Kumar and conducted between September and December 2020. The water samples for the study were collected from the Sabarmati river, Chandola and Kankaria lakes of the city.

Kumar, who teaches in the IIT's Earth Sciences department, said, "Our aim was to detect the presence of N, S and ORF lab genes of SARS-CoV-2, also called as coronavirus, through RNA isolation. We found N-gene copies in the waters of the Sabarmati river, Chandola and Kankaria lakes. The ORF lab-gene was not found in Chandola, while S-gene copies were present in all the three water bodies".

The professor added, "Although genes of coronavirus were detected, our methodology does not tell us if they were alive or dead. However, we can't just presume that they all were dead. Although virus transmission through water is not proven yet, institutions need to come together and conduct further research on this. Monitoring is needed".

He further informed that if coronavirus genes reached the surface water through urine or excreta of Covid-19 patients, then the genes would have been dead.

However, the genes might have been alive if they came from the mouth of a Covid-19 patient, such as through gargled water, he said.

Kumar, adding that the report has been submitted to UNICEF, said, "We do not know if genes found by us were alive or not. Further research is needed to understand the implications of our findings. Governments should also focus on better solid waste management".

(Image credit: PIXABAY)