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As India fights pandemic, recovered patients risk black fungus infection

WION
New DelhiWritten By: Gravitas deskUpdated: May 24, 2021, 01:00 PM IST
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Central government reported two cases of the Omicron variant in the Southern state Karnataka Photograph:(AFP)

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The new coronavirus cases remain below 300,000 but India's total pandemic caseload has now crossed 26 million

India is fighting an epidemic within a pandemic. First, the Wuhan virus killed tens of thousands of people and now those who have recovered face the risk of a black fungus infection.

The new coronavirus cases remain below 300,000 but India's total pandemic caseload has now crossed 26 million with active cases still falling. It dropped by more than 200,000 on Thursday. 

Now, India has been reporting over three million active cases but recoveries remain steady as more than 22 million people have recovered in India since last year.

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However, once again India has reported more than 4,000 deaths in a day. Overall, close to 300,000 people have died since last year which is the official figure.

The world over, the official death toll is 3.4 million, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

But the WHO now says it may not be the accurate figure and that fatalities are being underreported worldwide.

The actual figure could be two to three times higher and seven to nine million people could have died worldwide which includes the unreported deaths from the Wuhan virus and the indirect deaths caused by factors like the lack of hospital capacity and restrictions on movement.

Those patients who couldn't reach the hospitals and were not registered. In 2020 alone, the WHO estimates that the Wuhan virus killed at least three million people.

The official figures for 2020 are 1.8 fatalities.