Indian government calls on states to declare ‘black fungus’ epidemic

India has ordered tighter surveillance of a rare fungal disease hitting COVID-19 patients, Report informs referring to Reuters.

Health Secretary Lav Agarwal said in a letter to state governments that mucormycosis had emerged as a new challenge for COVID-19 patients on steroid therapy and those with pre-existing diabetes.

"This fungal infection is leading to prolonged morbidity and mortality among COVID-19 patients," he said in the letter.

He gave no numbers of the Mucormycosis cases nationwide but Maharashtra, one of the states worst hit in the second wave of coronavirus infections, has reported 1,500 cases of it.

Agarwal asked state governments to declare it as a "notifiable disease" under the Epidemics Act, meaning they have to identify and track every case.

Mucormycosis, or "black fungus" usually infects people whose immune system has been compromised, causing blackening or discoloration over the nose, blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing blood.

Doctors believe that the use of steroids to treat severe COVID-19 could be causing the rash of cases because those drugs reduce immunity and push up sugar levels.

India on May 20 reported 276,110 new coronavirus infections over the previous 24 hours, slightly higher than a day earlier but well below the 400,000 high seen at the beginning of this month in a devastating second wave.

The total caseload stands at 25.77 million, the world's second highest after the United States. Deaths rose by 3,874 overnight, taking the total tally 287,122.