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‘Black fungus’ plaguing India amid COVID-19 crisis
A deadly rise in the number of people presenting to India’s hospitals with a so-called “black fungus” has prompted health authorities to consider declaring an epidemic.
This week, the country’s Health Ministry wrote to each of India’s 29 states and asked them to declare the outbreak as an epidemic.
In doing this, the ministry will be able to closely monitor the situation and allow for more coordinated responses and treatment plans.
The previously rare black fungus infection has a mortality rate of 50%, and health officials are seeing thousands of cases in both recovered and recovering Covid-19 patients.
This has prompted doctors to question whether there is a link between the infection and the steroids used to treat Covid symptoms.