We will provide free treatment of black fungus: Maha Health Minister

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope informed, on Tuesday, that Covid-triggered black fungus infection cases have risen to 2,245 in the state. Speaking to reporters, the Minister said that black fungus patients will receive free treatment under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana. The Maharashtra government has classified Black fungus as a notified disease.

Tope also said that the Covid positivity rate in the state stood at 12%and the recovery rate was 93%. The Minister said that the government had decided to stop home isolation for patients of 18 districts where the positivity rate was high. “The patients from these districts will have to go to a quarantine centre, and won’t be allowed home isolation,” he said.

Maharashtra government has shunned the option of home isolation for patients and instead made institutional quarantine mandatory in areas that have a high Covid positivity rate. “We have decided to stop home isolation for patients of 18 districts where the positivity rate is high. The patients from these districts will have to go to a quarantine centre, and won’t be allowed home isolation,” said the Health Minister.

At a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday, Tope said that he has directed collectors and commissioners to admit patients in Covid care centres instead of isolating them at home. “This has been done to stop family members from getting infected,” he said. Tope stressed that the state government has not received any response to the global tender floated for procurement of vaccines, “We are requesting the central government to float tender and provide us vaccines,” he added.