‘Black fungus a notified disease’: Uttar Pradesh government

While no data was available for the state of Black Fungus cases, Lucknow’s KGMU informed that till now, 96 patients had been admitted there with the infection. “A total of 23 new patients were admitted with the infection in 24 hours. Eight people have died at the hospital due to the infection till now,” said an official.

A statement issued by the state government on Friday said, “Black fungus infections in the post-Covid stage are increasing. On suggestions of experts, the state government is making arrangements for proper medical treatment of patients suffering with it… Orders in this regard should be issued today and be made effective. Adequate availability of its medicine should be ensured.”

During the meeting, Adityanath was informed “that medicines for the treatment of black fungus have been made available in every district”.

“Patients being treated for this disease in private hospitals can also get medicines by giving applications to the concerned divisional commissioner,” said a state spokesperson.

“In all government hospitals, medical colleges, and private hospitals of the state, information about the complete case history and line of treatment of the patients being treated for black fungus should be made available to the experts,” said the spokesperson.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh saw a decline in number of fresh Covid cases with 7,735 cases being reported in the last 24 hours along with 172 deaths taking the toll to 18,760. The state saw 17,668 patients of COVID being discharged in the last 24 hours bringing down the active cases to 1.06 lakh.

The highest number of fresh cases were reported from Ghaziabad (1003), Gorakhpur (892), Meerut (427), Gautam Budh Nagar (394). The highest number of deaths were reported from Varanasi where 15 people died due to the virus, Lucknow where 12 people succumbed, Saharanpur (11), and Meerut reported nine deaths. The highest number of active cases were still in Lucknow with 6,631.The government on Friday also said that it is currently “working on war footing to establish 258 oxygen plants in the state in order to achieve self-sufficiency in production of medical oxygen”.

“At present, all the districts have adequate backup of oxygen in UP. Medical colleges also have oxygen backup for two and a half days. A total of 753 MT of oxygen has been supplied in the state in the last 24 hours. Oxygen is also being given to people in home isolation,” said a spokesperson.

“There are 25 oxygen plants currently operating in the state of UP. Besides, a total of 188 new oxygen plants are to be set up from the PM Care Fund, of which five have been established while work is underway on 16 others,” added the spokesperson.

CM Adityanath on Friday handed out vaccination certificates to people after an inspection at BKT Primary Health Centre in Kathwara village of Lucknow .