Ambuj Tripathi
ambuj.tripathi@thelucknowjournal.com
Water of ancient river Ganges contain an antibacterial property called Ninja virus or Bacteriophages
New Delhi, April 18: According to the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), only 24 out of 46 districts of five states along the banks of ancient river Ganges have reported coronavirus (Covid-19) infection. This is less than two percent of the total cases in the country.
According to data from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, only 24 of the 46 districts along the banks of the Ganges in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal have reported corona infection. Of these, a total of 230 corona cases have been detected in 24 districts, while the country has 13,898 active cases of the pandemic till Saturday morning and 480 people have died.
According to the MoHFW data, most of the thousands of labourers, who returned to their villages in haste from Delhi, Punjab, etc., after the lockdown of the first phase (from March 24 to April 14) were declared to be residents of the same strips of Ganga, however, despite 18 to 20 days of their return, cases of virus infection generally have not increased in those areas.
According to the data released by the Ministry, three out of seven districts in Uttarakhand, the first state to come into the Ganges flow area, are affected by highly contagious pathogen. So far 24 cases have been come to light in the state. The Ganga passes through 25 districts in Uttar Pradesh of which 175 cases of corona have been reported in 16 districts. Ganges passes through 12 districts in Bihar, 31 cases of corona have been found in five of these districts. The Ganga passes through Sahibganj in Jharkhand and Malda district in West Bengal and not a single case of corona has been reported so far in both the districts.
According to experts, water of ancient river Ganges contains an antibacterial property called Ninja virus. Ninja means warrior. Until ninety years ago, these ninja viruses were found in abundance in the river Ganges. Scientists named these virus “Bacteriophages” (Bacteriophages are the prokaryotic viruses that solely infect and/or destroy the bacteria) and the people of India know it as the ‘Gangatatva’ (property of the Ganges). ‘Tatva’ is the element of pious river Ganges through which the Ganges water never gets spoiled.
It is noteworthy that more than 15 percent of the country’s population is inhabited on the banks of the Ganges. While about 40 percent of the country’s population is connected to the Ganges in some form. The population of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal is 36 percent of the total population of the country.
