VARANASI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Friday said that
black fungus, or mucormycosis, has emerged as a new challenge and all precautions should be taken to deal with the situation.
“In recent days we have a new challenge of Black Fungus. It is important to prepare systems to tackle it," he said, describing the virus as an unseen and shifting enemy.
Addressing doctors and frontline workers of Varanasi through video conferencing, the PM said: “We should focus on precautions against black fungus and step up efforts to deal with the challenge.”
On Thursday, the central government had directed the states and Union Territories to declare mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act.
Following the directives, Uttar Pradesh has announced black fungus as a notifiable disease which means that all the districts will have to inform the integrated disease surveillance unit of the health department about all suspected and confirmed cases as well as deaths.
During their interaction with the PM, doctors also informed him about the steps being taken to tackle black fungus.