Category: National

  • Now, white fungus, which is more dangerous, hits India

    White Fungus infection is more dangerous than black fungus infection because it affects lungs as well as other parts of the body.

    Amid the rising cases of Black Fungus infection in several states of India, four cases of White Fungus infection have been reported from Patna in Bihar. It is to be noted that White Fungus is considered more dangerous than Black Fungus. One of the infected patients is a famous doctor from Patna.

    White Fungus infection is more dangerous than black fungus infection because it affects lungs as well as other parts of the body incuding nails, skin, stomach, kidney, brain, private parts and mouth.

    Doctors said that white fungus also infect the lungs and an infection similar to COVID-19 is detected when HRCT is performed on the infected patient.

    According to Chief of Microbiology at PMCH, Dr S N Singh, all the four persons infected by White Fungus showed coronavirus-type symptoms but they were not COVID-19 positive. Singh added that but there lungs were found infected and after tests when they were given anti-fungal medicines then they recovered.

    Dr Singh noted that just like Black Fungus, White Fungus is also more dangeorus for those who have weak immunity. Diabetes patients and those who are taking steroids for a long period of time are more at risk of getting infected with White Fungus.

    White Fungus is also affecting those coronavirus patients who are on oxygen support. The white fungus is directly affecting the lungs of these patients. According to doctors, cancer patients took remain on alert against White Fungus. The White Fungus also infects children and woman and according to doctors it is the main reason of Leucorrhoea.

    Dr Singh said that it is easy to prevent White Fungus infection by sanitising the oxygen or ventilator properly.

    – DNA India

  • COVID-19 patients may suffer from Diabetes: ICMR

    The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the largest government body working on medical research in the country, has warned that coronavirus disease may also cause diabetes in some patients.

    ICMR head Dr Balaram Bhargava said that the coronavirus infection increases the sugar levels. In such cases, coronavirus patients can also suffer from diabetes.

    He added that DRDO’s COVID-19 drug 2-DG is suitable for patients with mild and moderate levels of coronavirus but not suitable for critical patients.

    In one month, a COVID-19 patient can spread the infection to 406 people, Dr Bhargava said.

    By next month, the country will be able to test 45 lakh people every day, he informed.

  • Kangana Ranaut tests positive for COVID-19

    Actor Kangana Ranaut on Saturday said she has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and is under home quarantine.

    The 34-year-old actor, whose Twitter account was permanently suspended for repeated violations of rules earlier this week, shared her diagnosis on Instagram.

    “I was feeling tired and weak with slight burning sensation in my eyes for past few days, was hoping to go to Himachal so got my test done yesterday and today the result came I am covid positive.

    “I have quarantined myself, I had no idea this virus is having a party in my body,” she wrote.

    Terming COVID-19 a “small time flu”, Ranaut said she is determined to “destroy” the virus from her body.

    “…Now that I know I will demolish it, people please don’t give anything any power over you, if you are scared it will scare you more, come let’s destroy this Covid -19 it is nothing but a small time flu which got too much press and now psyching few people,” she added.

    On Friday, Mumbai reported 3,040 new COVID-19 cases and 71 fresh fatalities.

    PTI

  • Covid Not Just Lung Disease, Can Also Cause Lethal Blood Clots: Experts

    Global studies have shown that the prevalence of blood clot formation known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in hospitalised Covid patients is 14-28% and is a lower 2-5% for arterial thrombosis.

    PTI

    New Delhi: There is increasing evidence to suggest that COVID-19 is not just a disease of the lungs as initially thought but can also cause dangerous blood clots which need to be immediately removed to save limbs in some cases, say experts.
    Global studies have shown that the prevalence of blood clot formation known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in hospitalised COVID-19 patients is 14-28 per cent and is a lower 2-5 per cent for arterial thrombosis.

    The India experience is similar, said experts, stressing that the infection is about the blood vessels as much as about the lungs.

    We are dealing with five-six such cases per week on average. This week it has been one a day of such complications, said Dr Ambarish Satwik, vascular and endovascular surgeon at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

    The prevalence of blood clot formation in COVID-19 is high in patients who have conditions such as type-2 Diabetes Mellitus, although the exact incidence remains unknown, added Dr Amrish Kumar, consultant, cardio-thoracic vascular department, Aakash Healthcare in southwest Delhi’s Dwarka locality.

    While DVT is a serious condition that occurs when a blood clot forms in a vein located deep inside the body, arterial thrombosis is a clot that develops in an artery. Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to the body, while veins carry blood low in oxygen from the body back to the heart.

    Mr Satwik drew attention to the Covid-clot connection in a tweet earlier this week in which he posted a picture of a blood clot cast taken out from the lower limb arteries of a COVID-19 patient.

    What Covid clots look like. Covid produces blood clots. The incidence of heart attack, stroke, or limb loss due to an arterial clot in Covid varies from 2 per cent-5 per cent. We pried these out of the lower limb arteries of a Covid patient. We were able to save the limb, Mr Satwik said on May 5.

    Explaining his tweet, which attracted a lot of attention and questions too, Mr Satwik said the COVID-19 patient had an acute circulatory cut off because of the clots, and the limb was threatened.

    So we had to physically do a surgical procedure and extract these clots, otherwise there would have been gangrene, and he would have ended up with an amputation. We were successfully able to take the clots out and save the limb, the surgeon explained.

    Authors of a Lancet paper published in November last year said studies suggested there is increased association between COVID-19 and the risk of thromboembolism (TE) or obstruction of a blood vessel by a blood clot.

    The authors of the paper concluded that TE rates of COVID-19 are high and associated with a higher risk of death.

    We have been understanding the pathophysiology of COVID-19 for over a year now. When it first hit China and the global west, it was thought that it was typical viral pneumonia. Severe cases of acute COVID-19 were being labelled as similar to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which leads to respiratory failure, Mr Satwik noted.

    However, a series of autopsies on COVID-19 patients and their lungs revealed that what the doctors were seeing was not typical ARDS.

    …in addition to that, they were finding clots in the microcirculation of the lungs. So it was then kind of understood that COVID is as much a disease of blood vessels as much it’s a disease of the lungs, Mr Satwik added.

    In a COVID-19 patient, when blood vessels are injured, they produce a protein that attracts platelets and other clotting factors that come together to form a clot, Mr Kumar added.

    Studies have shown that around 20 to 30 per cent of hospitalised COVID-19 patients have developed this complication, he told PTI.

    Because blood vessels are everywhere on the body, these clots could form anywhere, Mr Satwik said. Some of these clots occupy big blood vessels and become macroscopic blood clots.

    But otherwise we are seeing diffused microscopic clots in microcirculation in various organs, he noted.

    According to a University of Oxford study published in April, the risk of rare blood clotting following COVID-19 is around 100 times greater than normal.

    The research found that the rare blood clotting known as cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) — a blood clot of a cerebral vein in the brain — is more common after COVID-19 than in any of the comparison groups, with 30 per cent of these cases occurring in the under 30s.

    The study covered 500,000 COVID-19 patients. The risk would be 39 in a million, according to its finding.

    The signals that COVID-19 is linked to CVT, as well as portal vein thrombosis a clotting disorder of the liver is clear, and one we should take note of, said Oxford’s Maxime Taquet, one of the authors of the study.

    Explaining how the virus causes blood clots in COVID-19 patients, Mr Satwik said the virus is known to attach itself to the inner lining of the lung, and right next to these air sacs are very thin blood vessels or capillaries.

    The virus invades these blood vessels and starts affecting the inner lining of these blood vessels which produces a dysfunction within the blood vessels which produces these clots, the surgeon said.

    As a result, he said, some clinicians were using blood thinners as part of the treatment and getting success.

    What we have understood is these micro clots need immediate retrieval in order to save the limbs, Mr Satwik added.

    He also said it is very difficult to know the prevalence of clots in the entire population infected with COVID-19.

    Although it is difficult to determine the vulnerability of COVID-19, individuals with existing cardiovascular morbidities are the ones who will suffer thrombotic complications, Mr Satwik said.

    According to Mr Kumar, in COVID-19 patients, the clots seem to form in the tiny vessels of the lungs rather than the major vessels, adding that clots in the lungs usually happen in the case of typical strokes or heart attacks or deep vein thrombosis.

    Risk of COVID-19 patients associated with blood clots are stroke (clot in the cerebral artery), clots in the lungs, heart attack, deep vein thrombosis, and thrombosis in both upper and lower limb arteries. Stroke can cause paralysis, but we have not seen any such so far in our hospital, Mr Kumar added.

    India on Friday saw a single-day rise of 4,14,188 COVID-19 infections and 3,915 fatalities, pushing the country’s tally of cases to 2,14,91,598 (21.4 million/2.14 crore) and the death count to 2,34,083.

  • COVID situation going from bad to worse; PM, health min refuse to own responsibility: Chidambaram

    Asserting that the COVID-19 pandemic situation is going from bad to worse, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan are refusing to own responsibility and are making a “mockery of democratic principles”.

    His remarks came after the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday showed a record 4,14,188 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day in India, raising the country’s tally to 2,14,91,598. The active cases have crossed the 36-lakh mark.

    “The pandemic situation is going from bad to worse. The insufficient supply of vaccines is a hard, bitter truth, but the government is in denial,” Chidambaram tweeted.

    “In Tamil Nadu, not all among 45 plus are getting the first dose and a small number the second dose. Nobody between 18 and 44 is getting the vaccine,” he claimed.

    The situation in other states is not very different, Chidambaram added.

    “The PM and the Health Minister refuse to own responsibility and are making a mockery of democratic principles,” the former Union minister alleged.

    PTI

  • Govt’s failures have made another national lockdown inevitable: Rahul Gandhi to PM

    PTI

    Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the government’s alleged failures have made another devastating national lockdown almost inevitable, and called for providing financial and food support to the most vulnerable.

    In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he suggested that the government should not be concerned about the economic impact of the lockdown as the human cost of the spread of of the virus would have tragic consequences for the people.

    “Your government’s lack of a clear and coherent Covid and vaccination strategy, as well as its hubris in declaring premature victory as the virus was exponentially spreading, has placed India in a highly dangerous position: today the disease is growing explosively.

    “It is currently on the verge of overwhelming all of our systems. GOI’s failures have made another devastating national lockdown almost inevitable,” he told the prime minister.

    India has seen a record number of 4.14 lakh fresh Covid cases and around 4000 deaths in the last 24 hours.

    Gandhi said it is critical that our people are prepared for such an eventuality of a lockdown. He has been demanding that the government provides Rs 6000 in the accounts to each poor family to tide over the crisis.

    “To prevent a repeat of the manifold suffering caused by last year’s lockdown, the government must act with compassion and provide critical financial and food support to our most vulnerable people,” he said, adding that it must be also ready with a transportation strategy for those who will require it.

    The former Congress chief said that when the COVID-19 tsunami continues to ravage our country unabated, the people of India must be your foremost priority in such an unprecedented crisis.

    “I urge you to do everything in your power to stop the needless suffering that our people are going through,” he said.

    Gandhi also called for rapidly vaccinating the entire population and dynamically assess the efficacy of all vaccines against all new mutations as they are identified.

    He also called for scientifically tracking the virus and its mutations across the country using genome sequencing as well as its disease patterns.

    Gandhi also urged the government to be transparent and keep the rest of the world informed about our findings.

    1. “I am aware that you are concerned about the economic impact of a lockdown. Inside and outside India, the human cost of allowing this virus to continue its march unimpeded will result in many more tragic consequences for our people than any purely economic calculations your advisors are suggesting,” he said in his letter to PM.
  • 99% ‘Kumbh returnees’ test positive for COVID-19; 22 pilgrims untraced

    Bhopal: As India continues to fight against the second wave of COVID-19, another shocking case has been reported from Madhya Pradesh where 99 per cent of Kumbh returnees from Haridwar has tested positive for the coronavirus.

    Amid fears that the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Haridwar could be a super-spreader of COVID-19, out of 61 returnees, at least 60 pilgrims have tested positive for the virus.According to inputs from Times Now reporter Govind Gurjar, not all these returnees are from Kumbh Mela and the number may vary, as far as the total tally is concerned. He also adds that it is quite difficult to find if these people have returned from Kumbh.

    The Kumbh Mela, which is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world drew flak as many Kumbh returnees tested positive for the virus in various states of the country, thus increasing the caseload. In the wake of rising COVID-19 cases, many states mandated the COVID-19 test or quarantine for the returnees from Kumbh.

    14-day quarantine mandatory in Delhi

    In Delhi, a 14-day mandatory quarantine was ordered for the Kumbh returnees. The government also warned of strict action against those returnees who withhold information about their travels.Gujarat, among other states, had made the RT-PCR test mandatory for those returning from Kumbh as devotees could be seen violating social distancing norms as well.

    COVID cases in Madhya Pradesh

    The cases are spiraling at an alarming rate in Madhya Pradesh as the state saw 12,379 new COVID-19 cases, 102 deaths in the past 24 hours.With this addition, the total tally of infection now stands at 5,75,706. The state is now left with 88,511 active cases. A total of 14,562 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours.

    With inputs from Times Now

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • India reports 3,68,147 new COVID-19 cases, 3417 deaths

    New Delhi, May 3: India registered a slight dip in COVID-19 cases as it registered 3,68,147 new coronavirus infections and 3,417 related deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the union health ministry on Monday morning. With this, the cumulative count of the cases has gone up to 1,99,25,604.

    The daily spike had reached its peak of over four lakh cases on May 1 but came down to 392,488 cases yesterday.

    The cumulative death toll has mounted to 2,18,959. Currently, there are 34,13,642 active cases of COVID-19 in the country, as per the government data.

    The country also witnessed as many as 3,00,732 recoveries in the said period, taking the cumulative recoveries to 16,29,3003.

    According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as many as 29,16,47,037 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to May 2. Of these 15,04,698 samples were tested on Sunday.

    The total doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered stand at over 15,71,98,207, informed the health ministry.

    India is currently dealing with a devastating second Covid-19 wave that has swept through the nation, crushing the country’s health infrastructure and overburdening frontline medical workers.

  • 70 lakh participated in Kumbh mela amid COVID crisis

    As many as 70 lakh people participated in Haridwar’s Kumbh Mela, the mammoth religious congregation which ended Friday after triggering a scare that it might have acted as a coronavirus “super-spreader”.

    [the_ad_placement id=”w”]

    Held over three months in normal circumstances, the Kumbh Mela this time formally begun as late as April 1 due to concerns over COVID-19.

    A huge number of people gathered around Haridwar to take a dip in Ganga. The event was reduced to just one month and scaled down midway due to the raging pandemic.

    [the_ad_placement id=”w”]

    According to reports, about 2,600 devotees tested positive out of the nearly two lakh tests conducted by medical personnel during the mela.

    Three shahi snans took place during the event on April 12, 14 and 27, the last one being reduced to a largely symbolic event.

    [the_ad_placement id=”w”]

    The crowds began petering out after an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the seers to keep their representation in Kumbh symbolic.

  • India Needs Aggressive Lockdown Like Last Year; Night, Weekend Curfew Ineffective: AIIMS Chief

    India needs “aggressive lockdowns” like the one imposed in March last year to contain the ongoing second wave of COVID-19, AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria said on Saturday.

    Guleria, according to a report by NDTV, said the country’s health infrastructure is “stretched to the limit” and “aggressive lockdowns” in areas with positivity rates over 10 per cent are needed to contain the wave.

    [the_ad_placement id=”w”]

    India, according to him, had been caught “off guard” by the ferocity with which the virus was spreading.

    Night curfews and weekend lockdowns – such as those enforced by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and other states – were proving to be ineffectual, he said as per the report.

    [the_ad_placement id=”w”]

    He also said the death of a doctor in Delhi – Dr RK Himthani was one of 12 people who died after Batra Hospital ran out of oxygen – was a personal loss as he had known him since his student days.

    “That (the 12 deaths) drives home the point we need to be aggressive in containing the virus… healthcare infrastructure and workers are stretched to the limit,” Dr Guleria said.

    [the_ad_placement id=”w”]

    “Why is this happening? Because of continuously increasing number of cases… we have to work aggressively to bring this number down. No healthcare system in the world can manage this kind of load. The issue of aggressive containment or lockdown, or whatever, is key,” he stressed.

    Hours earlier Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal – whose government is battling positivity rates in excess of 30 per cent – had extended ongoing restrictions by a week.

    [the_ad_placement id=”w”]

    This is the second time Dr Guleria has called for strict lockdowns in high positivity areas.

    The AIIMS chief said the government had been caught off guard, and that a combination of factors were behind the spike in cases – this morning India reported over four lakh new ones in 24 hours.

    “We felt confident because vaccines were coming, and cases were falling… thought Covid won’t be a problem. So, a lot of people ignored Covid behaviour… and did not really factor in infectiousness of the new strains, that it could mutate and spread like wildfire in our population,” he explained.

    [the_ad_placement id=”w”]

    Dr Guleria also pointed out the fallacy in hoping for ‘herd immunity’, saying, “We have this feeling of ‘herd immunity’ without realising that if the virus changes that immunity is not of much use.”

    The flood of new cases every day, he said, meant hospitals had less time to turnaround beds so new patients could be admitted, and doctors had less time to treat every patient.

    [the_ad_placement id=”w”]

    And on the current wave peaking over the next few days and weeks, Dr Guleria said he expected peaks to vary from region to region, pointing to the apparent levelling off in Maharashtra and Delhi.