A rare black fungus that invades the brain is being increasingly seen in India, including coronavirus-infected patients. Munia Iffat reports. 

• Indian health ministry on Sunday released an advisory on how to treat the infection. Indian state Gujarat, about 300 cases had been reported in four cities, including Ahmedabad. 
• Prof Peter Collignon, who sits on the World Health Organization’s expert committee on antibiotic resistance and infectious diseases said, “the fungus, called mucormycosis, is very serious, has a high mortality, and you need surgery and lots of drugs to get on top of it once it takes hold”.
• The World Health Organization has said on Monday the B.1.617 variant spreading in India shows signs of being more concerned, and is now being treated as a variant of concern globally.
• WHO added, the variant has already spread to more than 30 countries. Three other variants from the UK, South Africa and Brazil have been given the same designation.
• They also said current vaccines will continue to be effective against the Indian variant.
• India reported 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths on Monday. Experts say the actual figures could be highest than reported.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s official COVID19 caseload has topped 15 million the third highest in the world, after India and the United States.