Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that currently there were around 620 cases of mucormycosis, or “black fungus” – a post-Covid complication – in the national Capital, PTI reported. He also said that there was a shortage of injections of the Amphotericin-B, the drug used to treat the disease.
Earlier, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the city recorded more than 200 cases of the fungal infection on May 23, but the daily count reduced to less than 100 on the last two days, ANI reported.
Doctors in various hospitals of Delhi also said that “black fungus” cases in the city seem to have reached the peak and are expected to fall in the next 7-10 days, The Hindu reported on Tuesday.
“There is a fall in the number of new [black fungus] cases,” Deputy Medical Superintendent of Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Hospital Ritu Saxena said. “Today [Tuesday] only one or two patients were admitted at the hospital. Covid-19 cases spiked in April and when these patients were in the recovery phase, then the black fungus cases had spiked. We are now expecting a fall in the number of these cases too.”
“Black fungus” disease is caused by a fungus named mucor, which is found on wet surfaces. The symptoms of the infection include headache, fever, pain under the eyes, nasal or sinus congestion, and partial loss of vision, among others. It mainly affects people who have health problems or take medicines that lower the body’s ability to fight germs and sickness and most commonly affects the sinuses or the lungs after inhaling fungal spores from the air, acccording to the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Centre had asked the states and Union Territories to declare mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.
Sputnik V makers have agreed to give vaccines: Kejriwal
Meanwhile, Kejriwal also said that manufacturers of the Sputnik V, Russian Direct Investment Fund, have agreed to supply doses of the vaccine directly to the Aam Aadmi Party government.
“Talks with the makers of Sputnik V are on...They will give us vaccine, but the quantity is yet to be decided,” Kejriwal said, according to PTI. “Our officials and the representatives of the vaccine manufacturers met on Tuesday.”
Earlier this week, Kejriwal had said that Pfizer and Moderna have refused to sell doses directly to the his government, as a response to its global tender for vaccines. On Tuesday, the Maharashtra government and Mumbai civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation also claimed to have received eight bids in response to their tenders. However, the credibility of the bids were in question as officials said that they have received responses only from facilitator firms which claim tie-ups with manufacturers.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Kejriwal reiterated his demand that the Centre should give approval to more vaccines in the country, Times Now reported.
“There is Moderna, there is Pfizer, there is Johnson & Johnson...These companies can be given approval within 24 hours,” Kejriwal said. “The Centre is asking states to procure doses. States have tried everything but none of them could get even one dose. This is like the Centre asking Delhi to make its nuclear bomb and Uttar Pradesh to come up with its own tanks, in case Pakistan attacks the country.”
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