Andhra Pradesh's black fungus cases reach 2,303, death toll at 157

Andhra Pradesh has so far reported 2,303 cases of black fungus or mucormycosis, while 157 people have died due to the disease, said the State Medical and Health Principal Secretary Anil Kumar Singhal on Monday.

Addressing the media here, Singhal said, "As many as 2,303 black fungus cases have been reported to date in Andhra, out of which 1,328 cases are active cases. So far 157 have died of black fungus. Amphotericin injection and Posaconazole tablets are adequately available all over the state."

He also informed that the Andhra Pradesh government announced an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh each and Rs 20 lakh each for families of doctors and nurses respectively from the state health department who died of COVID-19.

"The state government has issued a go-ahead to provide an ex-gratia to the families of the bereaved medical department employees. This is in addition to the central government's Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna. District collectors are empowered to release these funds after proper verification," he said.

Additionally, an ex-gratia of Rs 15 lakh each has also been announced for families of Male Nursing Orderly (MNOs) and Female Nursing Orderly (FNOs). Families of other staff will receive compensation of Rs 10 lakh each.

On the COVID-19 situation in the state, Singhal said, "The number of COVID cases is decreasing considerably in the state. In the past two months, COVID patients have been given expert advice through a telemedicine call centre."

He informed that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has ordered to set up additional paediatric and ICU beds in all teaching hospitals in the state."The Chief Minister has asked to identify land for construction of super/multi-speciality hospitals in municipal corporations. As of now, 5-acre land has been identified in 12 of the 16 municipal corporations. The Chief Minister has ordered to devise guidelines within two weeks for the cost of the unit, creation of infrastructure and staff employment. In the state, as many as 19 new RT-PCR testing labs are being set up," the Principal Secretary added.