UT reports first case of black fungus

Jammu/Srinagar, May 21

The first case of black fungus or mucormycosis in J&K was detected in a 40-year-old man here on Friday, officials said.

The Covid patient, who is admitted to the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital, is critical, Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, said.

According to GMC Hospital’s Principal Shashi Sudan Sharma, the patient suffers from diabetes and is immunocompromised. She said this is an avoidable complication which can be restricted by strictly monitoring the blood sugar level of Covid patients put on steroids, being undertaken by doctors at the hospital.

Meanwhile, J&K recorded 3,848 fresh Covid cases that took the caseload to 2,63,905 while 43 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 3,465, officials said. Out of the fresh cases, 1,442 were from Jammu division and 2,406 from Kashmir division. Srinagar recorded the highest number of cases (598), followed by Jammu (401) and Budgam (344). The active cases in the UT are 49,893 while 2,10,547 patients have recovered so far.

In Ladakh, 107 fresh cases and one death due to Covid took place. The caseload stands at 17,025 and the death toll is 172. Leh has registered 124 deaths and Kargil 48 so far.

The active cases in Ladakh are 1,554. A total of 106 more patients have recuperated from the disease in the Union Territory, taking the count of recoveries so far to 15,264, which accounts for 90% of the total cases, officials added. — PTI