The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has caused significant destruction, claiming over three million lives worldwide. Post SARS-COV-2 invasion, immunosuppression with hyperglycemia and elevated ferritin levels along with steroidal treatment creates a perfect storm for opportunistic infections. There is increasing evidence of mucormycosis co-infection in COVID-19 patients, during or post-treatment. A worse prognosis, a late diagnosis, and limited guidelines of screening and management of COVID-19 associated mucormycosis have made healthcare professionals fear an epidemic alongside a pandemic. This review geographically reports cases of COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM), evaluates characteristics, clinical manifestations, and outcomes of mucormycosis in COVID-19 active or recovered patients. It further describes preventive strategies and recommendations for optimal management therapy that can be adopted worldwide to curtail an impending threat to the healthcare system.

India, seemingly, has curbed the cases of dengue which has been endemic in the country for many years. The decline in cases is surprising with some states reporting a massive decrease in dengue cases of 84% as compared to last year. This decline in cases can be attributable to a possible disparity in the data and a rather unmonitored outbreak or owing to the lockdowns, misdiagnosis, and social distancing amidst the COViD‐19. The underlying factor should be explored and addressed as an unmonitored outbreak can lead to irrational pharmacotherapy, undiagnosed cases and a double burden on the healthcare system

Dear Editor, On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as a pandemic.(1) The novel coronavirus disease has originated as a cluster of unexplained cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, and it has scaled to new heights of mortality by affecting people both physically and mentally.[…] Mental health in the post COVID-19 era: future perspectives

: Over a span of 1 year, with millions infected, COVID-19 has spread to every part of the world and now poses a health threat to each and every one of us. The outbreak has consequently resulted in multiple health problems such as stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia, panic, and denial globally. Several factors have contributed to this rising number of psychiatric consults all over the world. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of Pakistani population during the second wave of the pandemic in this region. We conducted an online web-based cross-sectional survey comprising 500 participants. The questionnaire assessed the demographic information, attitude, and knowledge concerning COVID-19 outbreak in addition to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) utilizing the GAD-7 scale and depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiology Scale for Depression (CES-D) scale. The response rate of the study was 90.9%. The results of the survey indicated a prevalence of 25.4% of GAD, and 18.8% of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, nearly 34.8% of participants feared contracting COVID-19, 62.8% obtained constant critical updates regarding COVID-19, while 17.6% did not understand the knowledge regarding COVID-19. In the multivariate regression models, GAD was significantly associated with gender, age, and checking constantly of critical updates regarding COVID-19. Similarly, participants under 30 years had a higher risk of developing depressive symptoms than those above (> 30 years). Lastly, participants with no formal education were also found to be more prone to developing depression. We identified a potential threat to mental health during the pandemic.

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