World
India: Over 4,200 died of ‘black fungus’ in two months
India recorded more than 45,000 cases of the deadly “black fungus” over the last two months, the health ministry said, as a nationwide outbreak sweeps through COVID-19 patients.
The country’s junior health minister Bharati Pravin Pawar told parliament that over 4,200 people had died of the fungus – scientific name mucormycosis.
The infection was previously considered very rare but cases have ballooned during the pandemic, usually striking patients after recovery from Covid-19.
It is a highly aggressive disease and surgeons have been forced to remove eyes, the nose and jaw from patients to stop it spreading to the brain.
The death rate is over 50 per cent.
