More than 8,800 cases of deadly "black fungus" were identified in India, BBC reported on Sunday.
The rare infection, called mucormycosis, has a mortality rate of 50%, with some only saved by removing an eye. India has witnessed thousands of cases affecting recovered and recovering Covid-19 patients.
Doctors believe there is a link with the steroids used to treat COVID-19, affirming that diabetics are at particular risk.
The doctors told BBC it seems to strike 12 to 18 days after recovery from COVID-19.
At Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital in the central Indian city of Indore, the number of patients had leapt from eight a week ago, to 185 on Saturday evening.
More than 80% of the patients need surgery immediately, according to Dr VP Pandey, head of the hospital's department of medicine.
Pandey noted that the hospital had set up 11 wards with a total of 200 beds to treat black fungus patients.
"This surge in patients was definitely unexpected," he said. "We used to see one or two cases a year previously."
He reckoned that there were at least 400 patients with the disease in Indore alone.
"The black fungus infection has now become more challenging than Covid-19," the doctor asserted.
"If patients are not treated in time and properly, than the mortality rate can go up to 94%. The cost of treatment is expensive, and the drugs are in [short supply]."
In the same page, Dr Akshay Nayar, an eye surgeon who has treated a number of patients, pointed out that "No patient of mucormycosis has normal blood sugar."
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