New Delhi, Jun 7 (IANS): A total of 28,252 cases of mucormycosis have been reported in India so far from 28 states in which 86 per cent have a history of Covid-19 infections and 62.3 per cent of diabetes, the Central government said on Monday.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said this while chairing the 28th meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers on Covid-19 through a video-conference, here.
"So far, 28,252 cases have been reported from 28 states. Out of these, 86 per cent (24,370 cases) have a history of Covid-19 infection and 62.3 per cent (17,601) have a history of diabetes."
Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of Mucormycosis cases (6,339) followed by Gujarat (5,486).
Till May 25 night, over 768 mucormycosis cases were being treated in Andhra Pradesh followed by Madhya Pradesh (752), Telangana (744), Uttar Pradesh (701), Central institutions (592), Rajasthan (492), Karnataka (481), Haryana (436), Tamil Nadu (236), Bihar (215), Punjab (141), Uttarakhand (124), Delhi (119), Chhattisgarh (103), Chandigarh (83), Kerala (36), Jharkhand (29), Odisha (15), Goa (10), Jammu and Kashmir (5), Himachal Pradesh (3), Puducherry (2) and Tripura (1).
Mucormycosis is one of the rapidly spreading infections observed in patients recovering from Covid-19.
Mucormycosis is a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes that has been developing in Covid-19 patients. The fungal disease is commonly being observed in patients who were given steroids for a long time, who have been hospitalised for a long time, were on oxygen support or ventilator, faced poor hospital hygiene or those who have been taking medication for other illnesses such as diabetes.
If not treated on time, the mucormycosis infection can turn fatal. Covid medication can leave the body weak and low on immunity. They can also escalate the blood sugar levels in both diabetics and non-diabetic Covid-19 patients.
Besides the Health Minister, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar; Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep S. Puri; Union Minister of state for Home Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey were present in the meeting.
Speaking on vaccines and clinical intervention, Harsh Vardhan observed: "Till Monday morning, we have administered 23,27,86,482 vaccine doses to our countrymen in various categories."
Talking specifically about the 18-44 age group, the first dose has been given to 2,86,18,514 people, the Minister said, adding: "As of today (Monday), over 1.4 crore doses are still available with the states."
He noted that first doses have been given to 6,06,75,796 people in the above 60 plus category and 7,10,44,966 in the 45-59 age group.
On the testing front, the Union Health Minister noted that "as of June 7 morning, we have conducted over 36.6 crore (36,63,34,111) tests so far and over 15 lakh tests yesterday despite being a holiday".
"The labs for testing purposes have also gone up to 2,624. Daily Positivity Rate has also been declining and is at 6.34 per cent and even though this is less than 10 per cent positivity rate for 14 consecutive days, there still are 15 states where the daily positivity rate is greater than 10 per cent."
In the second wave, the Minister said we see that continuously daily cases are declining and are outnumbered by new recoveries 83 per cent of active cases are in 10 states and the remaining 17 per cent in 26 states and Union Territories.
Seven states and UTs (Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand) have less than thousand cases. Five state and UTs (Jammu, Punjab, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh) have less than two thousand cases. Even the most affected states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have observed decline in the number of cases at a significant rate.
Growth rate has declined from 14.7 per cent (May 5) to 3.48 per cent (today), said the Minister.