23 May 2021 10:07 pm Views - 3680
The government has denied claims that the ‘black fungus’ was detected in Sri Lanka.
State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control Sudarshani Fernandopulle told Daily Mirror that claims a person who tested positive for the coronavirus in Ampara had contracted black fungus, was false.
There were reports that the person in Ampara who tested positive for Covid had a fungus and that it was black fungus.
However, Minister Fernandopulle said the person was a TB patient who had not taken medications for TB.
Fernandopulle said the person was diagnosed with a fungal infection but it was not black fungus.
The patient had also later tested positive for the coronavirus.
Mucormycosis, a rare and potentially deadly infection also known as black fungus is now spreading across India.
According to reports, most of those infected in India are coronavirus patients, or those who have recently recovered from Covid-19, whose immune systems have been weakened by the virus or who have underlying conditions -- most notably diabetes.
Media report said that in the past few weeks, thousands of black fungus cases have been reported across India, with hundreds hospitalized and at least 90 dead. (By Easwaran Rutnam)