Delhi today reported its first monkeypox case as a 31-year-old man with no foreign travel history was diagnosed with the disease. This is the fourth monkeypox case reported in India with the previous three cases being reported from Kerala.
The man had attended a party in Manali in Himachal Pradesh, an official said, adding that a high-level review meeting on monkeypox has been called by the Directorate General Of Health Services (DGHS) today at 3 pm.
The West Delhi resident was hospitalised with symptoms of the disease three days ago, it said, adding that his samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology yesterday.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal confirmed that the disease was detected in the city, while asserting that there's no need to panic.
"The first case of Monkeypox was detected in Delhi. The patient is stable and recovering. There's no need to panic. The situation is under control. We have made a separate isolation ward at LNJP. Our best team is on the case to prevent the spread and protect Delhiites," tweeted Mr Kejriwal.
"The person was admitted two days ago. He had fever and skin rash.We kept him under observation. Later his samples were sent to Pune and today we received the report in which he was found positive for Monkeypox. He's being treated as per SoP," said Suresh Kumar, Director, LNJP Hospital.
Two-three suspected samples were coming every week in Mumbai, but these days the frequency has increased to two-three per day, sources told NDTV.
Sixteen laboratories are dedicated for monkeypox, including two only for Kerala.
Monkeypox is a zoonotic virus with symptoms similar to the smallpox, but less severe. The virus transmission occurs from infected animals to humans via direct or indirect contact. It can also be transmitted from humans to humans through direct contact with the infected person's skin or lesions, and respiratory droplets.
So far, more than 16,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 75 countries across the world. Five deaths have also been reported in Africa.
Apart from India, only one such case has been reported from the WHO's South-East Asia Region - in Thailand.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency - the highest alarm it can sound.
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