A RAISE IN COVID CASES – A RAISE IN HEART ATTACKS – ANY POSSIBLE LINK?
Medics are all worried seeing how covid is making its way back into India. It is been in the headlines for days now, that India is seeing a surge in the covid19 cases.
There are questions about another phase of covid pandemic everywhere. The situation is starting to become complicated again.
On Sunday, India saw a raise of fresh 3,800 cases which became the highest raise in the past six months, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. Now it’s been three days and Wednesday saw a raise of 4,435 cases surpassing the previous record.
The total active cases in India today as per the last updated records are 23,091. While the fresh cases count is like that, reported death due to covid have been at 15 in the past 24 hours. 15 new deaths due to covid in one day and 4 of them are from Maharashtra.
With the added new cases of the infection, the total covid cases India encountered to date from the start of the pandemic stands at 4.47 crores and the death count is at 5,30,916.
The new variant XBB 1.16 spreading faster than the previous ones is now another growing tension.
And something to add to the already existing concerns is the growing number of heart attacks. India is now seeing a surge in the number of heart attacks, and patients being admitted due to heart attacks are of all age groups including teens, which is not common.
Recently a case was reported in Telangana’s Mahbubnagar; a 13-year-old girl died due to a heart attack.
The Health Ministry is now trying to find out the cause of heart attacks in teens and children. Some suggested investigating if there is any link to covid. The link between covid and heart attacks is being investigated and will possibly be known in two to three months as said by the Mandaviya of the Health Ministry of India.
It is a known fact that covid attacks and weakens the respiratory system, but it is also true that part of its impact is on the heart too. It is not that the rising number of heart attacks is due to covid but there are some possible links that can be considered.
- The heart muscles are directly affected by covid 19, and the inner surface of veins and arteries in precise are at high risk. The effect of covid on these can cause inflammation in the blood vessels which in turn damages the vessel and forms clots that increase the risk of a heart attack.
- When one is infected by covid, their lungs are under the infection’s major influence; the virus causes fluid to fill up in the air sacs. This causes less oxygen supply to the bloodstream. Less oxygen to the blood means the heart has to work hard to pump the blood, this pressure on the heart and insufficient oxygen might cause cell death and increase the risk of a heart attack.
- Covid can also cause a heart muscle disorder, which affects the heart’s efficiency in pumping blood. This causes stress leading to the release of chemicals called catecholamines which can stun the heart leading to an arrest.
Keeping all these in mind the experts thought it would be better to look into the possibilities, but will have to wait for 2-3 months to look at the results. Till then stay safe and follow covid protocols.