India Reports 40,845 Cases of Black Fungus So Far

India reported 40,845 cases of black fungus or mucormycosis so far, of which 31,344 are rhinocerebral in nature, and the death toll from the infections stands at 3,129, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday.

Vardhan, who chaired the 29th meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19, apprised the members that of the total numbers, 34,940 patients had Covid (85.5 per cent), 26,187 (about 64.11 per cent) were co-morbid for diabetes, while 21,523 (52.69 per cent) of those infected were on steroids.

A total of 13,083 patients were in the age group of 18-45 years (32 per cent), 17,464 were in the age group of 45-60 years (42 per cent), while 10,082 (24 per cent) patients were 60-plus years of age, a health ministry statement said.

Speaking on COVID-19 vaccination drive, Vardhan said, "India has achieved another milestone in COVID-19 vaccination and has overtaken the US in total number of Covid vaccine doses administered so far. The US started vaccinating against Covid from December 14, 2020, whereas the drive was launched in India on January 16."

Under the new policy of Covid vaccination, the Union government is procuring and supplying (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to states and union territories, he was quoted as saying in the statement.

Till Monday morning (8 am), 32,36,63,297 vaccine doses have been administered in various categories. 

 Vardhan also presented a snapshot of India's efforts to contain COVID-19.

In the last 24 hours, India had only 46,148 Covid cases, while the active cases significantly declined to 5,72,994, he said.

The recovery rate has been steadily increasing and stands at 96.80 per cent as on date and 58,578 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours. 

Today is the 46th day in succession where our daily recoveries outnumbered new cases. Our case fatality rate has been 1.30 per cent, daily positivity rate at 2.94 per cent and weekly positivity rate also stands at 2.94 per cent, which has been consistently below 5 per cent for 21 days now, Vardhan said.

The GoM strongly reiterated the importance of Covid-appropriate behaviour, the statement said.

Higher level of continued awareness building through sustained IEC campaigns was highlighted. NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul emphasised on the benefits of mask wearing and hand hygiene, reported PTI.

Dr Balram Bhargava, Secretary (Health Research) and Director General (ICMR), also cautioned that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has still not subsided as 80 districts in the country still have high positivity, the statement said.

He advised against any laxity at this stage and also explained that vaccines have been found effective against the alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants of COVID-19.

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