Corona Effect: India Witnesses 25-30 Per Cent TB Case Notifications Drop: WHO

New Delhi: According to the Global Tuberculosis (TB) report released on Wednesday by the World Health Organisation (WHO), India, along with Indonesia and the Philippines, the three high burden countries, have witnessed 25 to 30 per cent drop in TB case notifications between January and June 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

WHO accumulated data from over 200 countries that has shown significant reductions in TB case notifications. This will lead to a ‘dramatic increase in additional TB deaths, according to WHO modelling’, reported The Indian Express.

As per the report, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on TB mortality suggests that a 50 per cent decline in the detection of TB cases over three months will lead to almost 4,00,000 more deaths from TB.

“The Covid-19 pandemic threatens to reverse recent progress in reducing the global burden of TB disease, if health services are disrupted to the extent that the number of people with TB who are detected and treated falls by 25–50 per cent over a period of three months,” Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director, WHO Global TB Programme told the media at a virtual conference.

In the aftermath of the pandemic-induced lockdown, India saw weekly and monthly number of TB case notifications reduce by more than 50 per cent between the end of March and late April 2020.

“It is worrisome that the disruptions extend over several months rather than just weeks. The first pressing priority is to catch up on all the missed patients. India alone needs to actively find over half a million persons with TB who were missed during the past six months and offer them TB treatment,” Prof Madhukar Pai, Canada Research chair in epidemiology and global health and Director of McGill International TB Centre told The Indian Express.