5,424 cases of black fungus reported in 18 states

NEW DELHI: Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, informed on Monday, May 26, that India reported 5424 cases of mucormycosis (black fungus) from 18 states, with a majority of them being reported from Gujarat and Maharashtra. He added that nine lakh doses of Amphotericin-B are being imported by the Centre to help in the treatment of black fungus.

Dr Vardhan, while speaking at the 27^th Group of Ministers (GoM) meet on COVID-19, said that Gujarat has reported 2165 cases; Maharashtra, 1188; Uttar Pradesh, 663; Madhya Pradesh, 590; Haryana, 339; and Andhra Pradesh, 248 cases. He also informed that of the total 5424 cases of black fungus, 4556 cases have a history of COVID-19 infection while the rest are from non-COVID patients. Dr Vardhan added that 55 per cent of these patients have a history of diabetes and nineteen states have declared mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Epidemics Act.

He also added that genome sequencing for 25,739 samples has been conducted and the B.1.617 strain of coronavirus was reported from 5261 samples, which makes it the most commonly found mutation till now. On vaccines, he said that the Government of India has administered 19.6 crore doses to the people of which, more than 60 lakh doses have been provided to the state and 21 lakh are still in the pipeline. He also informed that the central government has already sent more than 70 lakh Remdesivir vials and 45,735 ventilators to the states and union territories.