Bodies found on the Ganges River banks in India

India reported a smaller rise in daily COVID-19 cases for the third straight day, but the number of deaths in the past 24 hours was still higher than 4,000. Meanwhile, police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to learn more about the bodies found on the Ganges River banks.

COVID infections in the country rose by 311,170, while deaths grew by 4,077, the smallest rise in daily cases in over three weeks, according to data from the country’s health ministry.

On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves on the riverbank in a city in Uttar Pradesh state. Police used portable loudspeakers with microphones, asking people not to dispose of the bodies of COVID victims in rivers.

However, a state government spokesman denied media reports that more than 1,000 corpses of COVID victims had been recovered from rivers in the past two weeks.

Many speculate the discovery of bodies of COVID victims on the riverbank came as a result of crematoria and morgues being overwhelmed during the recent surge in COVID infections.