Alarming! Delhi Reports Third Monkeypox Case, 8 In India So Far: Health Minister

A total of eight cases of Monkeypox have been reported in India so far, and as a result, a national task force has been formed to scrutinise the development of vaccines and diagnostics; Health Minister Mansukh Madaviya revealed on August 2.

Delhi has reported another monkeypox case on Tuesday, the third case of the disease in the national capital.

Monkeypox Cases On The Rise

"Till date eight cases of the disease have been detected in India, out of which five have foreign travel history," Mandaviya was quoted as saying by NDTV in the Rajya Sabha.

Meanwhile, official sources said that a 35-year-old foreigner in the national capital with no recent travel history tested positive for Monkeypox on August 2. The individual was immediately admitted to the government-run LNJP Hospital on Tuesday.

Back on July 14, the first case of Monkeypox was reported in India's Kerala; the minister stated that much before that, on May 1 of this year, the central government had released guidelines to all states, and not just for the international airports, on surveillance mechanism and contact tracing; and how to collect samples from any suspected cases and to push it to recognised laboratories for verification.

Instructions By Govt

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has instructed three private hospitals to build isolation rooms for monkeypox cases. The hospitals will also be needed to reserve five rooms for confirmed Monkeypox cases and five more for suspected cases.

Monkeypox can be described as a zoonotic disease which is caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the exact family of viruses that triggers smallpox. The virus is now an endemic in areas like Central and West Africa but lately, cases have been recorded from non-endemic nations too, as per the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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