The number of corona patients has been declining since Magarashtra imposed strict restrictions from mid-April. Last month, more than 70,000 corona patients were being reported in the state every day. Now the same number has come down to 30,000 cases. Strict restrictions are in place in the state till June 1. This may further reduce the number of corona patients. But now another crisis has hit the state. The black fungus or Mucormycosis has raised concerns of the health system in the state.
About 5,500 cases of black fungus have been detected in the country so far. Considering the total number of deaths due to black fungus, 70% of the deaths have occurred in Maharashtra alone. Due to increased risk of black fungus, 5 states have declared this disease as an epidemic. The increase in the number of black fungus cases has made situation worse as it has caused shortage of Liposomal amphotericin B , an antifungal medication used to treat the disease.
Black fungus has infected 5500 people across the country. Of these, 126 have died. 90 of them are from Maharashtra. Black fungus has claimed 14 lives in Haryana and 8 in Uttar Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh, all the patients who lost their lives due to black fungus are from the capital Lucknow. Concerns are being raised in Bihar over black fungus followed by white fungus.
Situation in other states?In Jharkhand, four people have died due to black fungus. In Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, two people each died due to black fungus. In Bihar, Assam, Odisha and Goa one person has died in each state. Some states have not yet collected information related to the black fungus. Therefore, it is feared that this number will increase.