ONGOLE: Prakasam district has been witnessing a steady rise in black fungus cases for a week. On Thursday alone, six infected patients were admitted to the Ongole government general hospital (GGH) while four others were discharged, Dr Namineni Kirankumar, nodal officer for the black fungus wing of the hospital, said.
According to official figures, the district has reported a total of 208 cases of mucormycosis, out of which 46 are still active. The fungal infection has taken 16 lives so far even as the district administration is still struggling to reduce the high Covid infection rate. As 20 mandals are still reporting Covid cases in high numbers, the infection positivity rate stood around 5 per cent in those areas, and 3.5 per cent in the overall district.
CS Puram, Lingasamudram and Kamepalli are among the high-incidence areas as many Covid patients allegedly violated restrictions by attending social functions. In view of this, district collector Praveen Kumar conducted a review meeting on Thursday and directed revenue, municipal and police authorities to take up awareness drives and penalise people who don’t wear masks in public spaces.