Details sought about 'black fungus' among COVID patients: Karnataka Health Minister
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has sought information from health experts about 'black fungus' being detected among COVID patients in the country, Health Minister K Sudhakar said on Wednesday.
Addressing reporters at Chikkaballapura, he said, "I had a discussion with the technical advisory committee and the clinicians to submit a detailed report on black fungus in two days. Based on that, we will take a call."
The minister was replying to a query on media reports that the cases of black fungus or mucormycosis, a rare fungal infection, are on the rise among COVID-19 patients in some states, including Karnataka.
He said the government wants to learn about the disease and its treatment.
To another question on the rising double mutant variants of COVID, Sudhakar said he has ordered genealogical studies and its sequencing.
"Some have called it Indian variant also. It is behaving more erratically than the British variant. We are monitoring its movement as well. Some other countries are also studying it," the minister said.
On improving health infrastructure and medical care in Taluk level, the minister said the process to recruit 2,480 doctors and specialists in Taluk level had been going on for the past four-five months, which has now reached the final level.
"In the next two days, a gazette order will come for their recruitment.
Due to this, there will not be any shortage of physicians and doctors in Taluk level. We will appoint doctors at Taluk level in four days," the minister said.
Besides this, the state has 50 oxygenated beds and six ventilators in each Taluk hospital.
Karnataka has shown the declining trend in the COVID cases for the past two days reporting less than 40,000 infections from over 50,000 cases a few days back.
To bring the spread of COVID under control, the Karnataka government has imposed a lockdown-like stringent restriction in the state from May 10 to May 24 morning following the advice of the ministers, technical advisory committee and the opposition leaders.
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Russian First Deputy PM Manturov meets PM Modi; discusses trade, energy ties
New Delhi (PTI): Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov on Thursday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties in areas of investment, energy and industrial cooperation.
Manturov, on a two-day visit to India, also held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The Russian embassy said Modi and Manturov discussed "specific steps to implement agreements reached" during the India-Russia summit held in December last.
"Particular attention was paid to further strengthening Russia-India trade, economic, investment, energy and industrial cooperation," it said on social media.
In their meeting, Doval and Manturov were learnt to have discussed bilateral defence cooperation besides the evolving regional security situation.
The Russian first deputy PM's visit to New Delhi comes days after India cleared procurement of a fresh batch of five S-400 missile systems from Russia.
The decision to procure the additional batch of five S-400 air defence missile systems was taken against the backdrop of the missile system proving its capability during Operation Sindoor.
The missile system played a crucial role in India's dominance over Pakistan during the May 7-10 hostilities last year.
In October 2018, India had signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions under the provisions of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Three squadrons have already been delivered.
In the talks, the two sides are also expected to exchange views on the West Asia conflict and its impact on global economy, especially on the energy sector.
It is learnt that both sides also reviewed the implementation of decisions taken at the summit talks between Prime Minister Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in last December.
Following talks between the two leaders, India and Russia unveiled a raft of measures including a five-year roadmap to build a robust economic partnership and to increase the annual trade to USD 100 billion by 2030.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week lauded India's "independent foreign policy" and said that Russia looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi for a visit this year.
In an address at a conference titled 'India and Russia: Towards a new bilateral agenda', he said the "time-tested" friendship between the two countries is a model on interstate relations based on mutual trust and respect.
