Andhra Pradesh reported 36 cases of Mucormycosis (black fungus) in the last one week, taking the total tally to 4,925. But only one of the infected persons succumbed to Black Fungus during the week, Medical and Health Department data said. The number of cases under treatment came down from 463 to 390 in the week. Earlier, in the last week, the state had as many as 4,889 total cases.

Chittoor district added 10 new cases and one death, Anantapuram saw eight fresh cases, East Godavari, Prakasam and Guntur saw five each, Kurnool saw two and Kadapa saw one in the past week. Until last week, Chittoor topped the list with a high number of active cases followed by Guntur district. The remaining six districts did not report any fresh cases, the data said.

Guntur now has the highest number of black fungus cases under treatment at 135, followed by Chittoor with 68, Krishna with 58 and East Godavari with 50. Six districts have less than 20 active cases and Vizianagaram has just one, while Srikakulam and West Godavari have none. It said surgeries have been performed on 4,086 infected persons so far.

Meanwhile, the count of total COVID-19 cases in the state reached 20.21 lakh of which 14,510 are undergoing treatment. The state recorded 13 COVID19 deaths on Wednesday taking the total toll to 13,950 against 19.93 lakh discharges. As per the COVID-19 health bulletin, while 61,363 samples were tested in the latest 24-hour period, 1,361 people have tested positive.

In another development, state health officials in a COVID-19 control review meeting held by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy informed that 140 hospitals in the state will have oxygen generation plants by October 6. The CM urged the officials to be ready with new treatment methods to combat COVID-19 in the wake of the third wave. He directed officials to hold COVID-19 tests at the village clinic level. The CM also directed Health and Family Welfare officials to ensure that the new medical colleges launch Post Graduate courses as well. 

With PTI inputs