NEW DELHI, July 24:
A 34-year-old man from the national capital with no history of foreign travel has tested positive for monkeypox virus, making it the fourth case of the disease being reported in India, the Government said today.
The man had recently attended a stag party in Manali in Himachal Pradesh, official sources said.
A resident of West Delhi, the man was isolated at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital here around three days ago after he showed symptoms of the disease.
His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune on Saturday which came out positive, Union Health Ministry officials said.
“The case is presently recovering at the designated isolation centre at the Lok Nayak Hospital. The close contacts of the case have been identified and are under quarantine as per the Ministry of Health’s guidelines,” they said.
“Public health interventions like identification of the source of infection, enhanced contact tracing, testing sensitisation of private practitioners etc. Are being carried out. A high-level review of the situation has been planned by the Directorate General of Health Sciences at 3 pm Sunday,” the Ministry said.
Three cases of monkeypox had earlier been reported from Kerala.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had on Saturday declared monkeypox as a global public health emergency of international concern.
Monkeypox virus is transmitted from infected animals to humans via indirect or direct contact. Human-to-human transmission can occur through direct contact with infectious skin or lesions, including face-to-face, skin-to-skin, and respiratory droplets.
Globally, over 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 75 countries and there have been five deaths so far due to the outbreak.
In the WHO South-East Asia Region, besides India, one case has been detected from Thailand. (PTI)
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