India health officials battle "black fungus" infections as COVID death toll tops 300,000
24 May 2021
Health officials in India are scrambling to contain a potentially fatal fungal infection affecting people being treated for or who've recovered from COVID-19, as the official coronavirus death toll surpassed 300,000 on Monday.
Why it matters: Mucormycosis, the "black fungus" infection, is still quite rare, with some 9,000 cases as of Saturday, per NDTV. But Indian health services are overstretched treating COVID-19 patients amid sluggish vaccine deliveries, with oxygen and other supplies running out in many places, AP notes.
- Mucormycosis has been declared an "epidemic" by health officials in four states, the Times of India reports.
- The mucormycosis death toll has not been disclosed, but local media have reported that 250 people have lost their lives to the infection, according to AP.
The big picture: India's health ministry confirmed 4,454 more people had died from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 303,720 — the third-highest in the world after the U.S. and Brazil.
- The ministry reported 222,315 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total to almost 27 million since the pandemic began.
- Scientists and local health workers say the actual numbers are much higher.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.