Srinagar, May 24 (IANS) The Jammu and Kashmir government declared black fungus as an epidemic on Monday under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.

The decision followed a directive from the union government in which it had asked the UT administration to make black fungus a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act.

On Friday, a 40-year old patient with confirmed black fungus infection died in a government medical college hospital in Jammu.

Another suspected patient is being treated at the government dental college in Srinagar while doctors have confirmed that a black fungus patient was successfully treated in November 2020 by the doctors at the dental college.

--IANS sq/skp/