With the increase in cases of mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, in Covid-19 patients, the Rajasthan government on Wednesday issued an order to include the debilitating illness as a notifiable illness.
The state government on Wednesday declared mucormycosis (black fungus) as an epidemic that is occurring in patients recovering from Covid19 infection. The health department issued a notification on Wednesday.
The notification states a continuous increase in the number of patients with black fungus due to the effect of Covid-19 infection, black fungus has emerged as a side effect of Covid-19. This step has been taken in view of integrated and coordinated treatment.
Mucormycosis (black fungus) is notified as an epidemic and notifiable disease in the entire state under the sections of Rajasthan Epidemic Act 2020.
On the other hand, the availability of oxygen beds in several parts of Rajasthan has increased for the first time during the second Covid-19 wave in the state, albeit ICU (intensive care unit) beds with ventilators remain scarce at hospitals, officials said.
The improvement comes as a result of the steep decline in daily Covid-19 cases in the state, the officials said.
According to the health department data, daily Covid-19 cases, which were hovering around 18,000 about a week ago, came down to 8,398 on Tuesday.
Health secretary Siddharth Mahajan said that in the past few days, the doubling time of Covid-19 cases in the state has increased from 21 days to 40 days. The recovery rate is at 80 per cent, which has eased the load on many hospitals, he said.
In Jaipur, which has been persistently logging the highest number of cases in the state, 627 oxygen beds were vacant as of Wednesday, as per the government portal that tracks the real-time availability of the beds. A week ago, the city had only 95 beds available to cater to fresh Covid-19 patients.
This has come as a major respite to the doctors who struggled to accommodate the increasing number of patients in already overwhelmed health infrastructure. There is, however, a dearth of ICU beds with ventilators in Jaipur. There are 849 such beds in Jaipur of which 831 were occupied by Wednesday, leaving only 18 available for fresh patients.