On Thursday, May 20, the Centre wrote a letter to all the states and union territories asking to make mucormycosis or black fungus a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.
Following the Central government’s advisory, several states over the last 24 hours declared mucormycosis, a life-threatening viral infection in COVID-19 patients, as an epidemic the same day.
Telangana was the first state to declare mucormycosis a notifiable disease. The state government gave the order on Thursday morning, May 20, hours before the Centre's advisory. Followed by Rajasthan, has around 100 black fungus patients as of May 19, according to state government data.
Responding to the Centre, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and UT of Chandigarh announced the fungal injection as an epidemic.
The letter also directed the states and UTs to make it mandatory for government and private hospitals to report all suspected and confirmed cases.
According to Rajesh Tope’s statement made on Wednesday, May 19, said that there are at least 1,500 COVID-19 patients suffering from black fungus also known as Mucormycosis in the state. Furthermore, as many as 90 people have lost their lives battling this infection in the state.
While speaking to the media on May 11, Tope had mentioned that this fungus has a 50 per cent mortality rate. He had also mentioned at that time there could be more than 2,000 cases in the state but later told that there are currently 1,500 people fighting this fungus at this time.
Also Read: White Fungus in COVID-19 patients, Know why it is more dangerous than Black Fungus
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