20 people contract black fungus infection in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: Lieutenant governor (additional charge) Tamilisai Soundararajan said 20 people, including a couple of government servants, have contracted black fungus infection (mucormycosis) in the Union territory.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Tamilisai said the administration would soon declare black fungus infection as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
She pointed out that the fungal infection started spreading in the territory and directed the hospitals to alert the directorate of health and family welfare services when they admit patients with symptoms of the fungal infection. She also urged the patients with symptoms of infection not to take medicines on their own but to approach hospitals for treatment.
Meanwhile, the Puducherry region, which is the most affected by the Covid-19 infection, does not have a vacant intensive care unit (ICU) bed as of 5.30pm on Friday. All the 205 ICU beds in the six government institutions, six private medical colleges and five private nursing homes are occupied while only 22 oxygen beds in these institutions are available. Of the total 2,339 isolation beds, 1,535 beds are vacant in Puducherry headquarters.
More than 2,000 Covid-19 patients recovered in a single day on Friday. The territory reported 1,702 fresh cases even as 2,107 patients recovered in the last 24 hours ending at 10am on Friday bringing down the number of active cases to 17,936. Of them, 15,830 patients are under home isolation and treatment.
Puducherry headquarters reported the maximum fresh cases with 1,340 followed by Karaikal (249), Yanam (76) and Mahe (37). Puducherry headquarters also has the maximum active cases with 14,455 followed by Karaikal (2,178), Yanam (1,006) and Mahe (297).
Twenty-six patients, including 11 women, died of the infection in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 1,295. Eighteen dead did not have any comorbidities.