Venice's Canals Are Becoming Cleaner & Full Of Animal Life, As Coronavirus Keeps Visitors Away

For the past few days, Italy has been under lockdown as death toll related to coronavirus has risen to 2,158 and over 27,980 have been infected.

On Monday, 349 new cases were reported in the country and more and more cases are being reported almost every minute.

No doubt that the situation is overwhelming and tense but, there is an unexpected positive side to the pandemic that is coming to light.

With Italy under lockdown, locals in Venice have noticed that the water in the city’s canals has become much clearer. “It’s because there is less boat traffic that usually brings sediment to the top of the water’s surface,” says the mayor’s office. https://t.co/acEqBa2Zw9
— CNN International (@cnni) March 16, 2020

Since Italy is under lockdown, the streets are empty, shops are closed and the NO² pollution levels have also significantly dropped.

Water flowing through the canals in Venice have become clearer, after so long due to reduced pollution. The fishes have returned and so have the swans.

Here’s an unexpected side effect of the pandemic – the water’s flowing through the canals of Venice is clear for the first time in forever. The fish are visible, the swans returned. pic.twitter.com/2egMGhJs7f
— Kaveri 🇮🇳 (@ikaveri) March 16, 2020

The skies are clear, the pollution has gone down, the streets are clean and it’s definitely a beautiful sight to see.

Here’s an unexpected side effect of the pandemic – the water’s flowing through the canals of Venice is clear for the first time in forever. The fish are visible, the swans returned. pic.twitter.com/2egMGhJs7f
— Kaveri 🇮🇳 (@ikaveri) March 16, 2020

Boars in the middle of my hometown, dolphins in the port of Cagliari, ducks in the fountains in Rome, Venice canals have now clean water full of fishes. Air pollution dropped. Nature is reclaiming its spaces during quarantine in Italy. #COVID19 #COVIDー19 pic.twitter.com/dr6QILfF9V
— Francesco Delrio (@Cosodelirante) March 15, 2020

since there’s no boat’s traffic in venice’s canals, white swans came back 😭 this is precious pic.twitter.com/xJOFKL8Dal
— 🦢¹³ (@fiIterjm) March 13, 2020

The dolphins have also come back to the canals in Venice.

Without the ferries and water taxis, the water in the canals of Venice have become clear and clean, and the dolphins have come back! https://t.co/wLEMPcLiJg
— Ohm (Unit of Resistance)🆘️ (@HereToResist) March 16, 2020

Even ducks are busy laying eggs.

this is what happened in venice during the quarantine. ducks laid eggs on a no longer used ferry and fishes were so many and so visible in the canals… https://t.co/6GaQnTlwMy pic.twitter.com/d13toWEJUn
— timid the shallow may (@peaachylouis) March 13, 2020

While some netizens were amazed to see other life forms come back to life during the quarantine, there were others who blamed humans for taking nature for granted.