Prepared for any possible surge in monkeypox infections: Delhi govt

The Delhi government on Tuesday said that it was keeping a close watch on the monkeypox situation, and added that isolation rooms have been set up in two more government and three private hospitals, besides the nodal facility at Lok Nayak Hospital

The Delhi government on Tuesday said that it was keeping a close watch on the monkeypox situation, and added that isolation rooms have been set up in two more government and three private hospitals, besides the nodal facility at Lok Nayak Hospital.

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Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the health portfolio, said on Tuesday that the government has “geared up to fight monkeypox infections”. He added that isolation facilities have been prepared at government’s Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, as well as private -- Kailash Deepak Hospital, MD City Hospital and Batra Hospital.

“Not many cases of monkeypox have been reported in India, but we are ready with all the preventive measures and are taking steps to deal with any possible surge. The Delhi government is taking several important steps to prevent monkeypox infection from spreading in the city,” Sisodia said.

In a statement, the government said that 20 isolation rooms have now been set up at Lok Nayak Hospital, which initially had a six-bed ward to isolate monkeypox patients. This was the only government facility that was treating confirmed cases and also isolating and sending samples of suspected patients till Tuesday.

Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Kailash Deepak Hospital, MD City Hospital and Batra Hospital, will have 10 isolation rooms each, the statement said.

Monkeypox is a self-limiting viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients. However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is clinically less severe than smallpox. The infection, unlike Covid-19, is not airborne and is known to spread through close contact with bodily fluids or through contact with the clothes or bed linen of an infected person.

Delhi till now has reported three monkeypox cases, of which one patient was discharged on Tuesday. Two Nigerians who have tested positive of the infection are Nigerians who live in the city and have no travel history.

According to the union health ministry guidelines, if a person has the history of travelling to a monkeypox-affected country in past 21 days, has symptoms like swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, bodyache, rashes, weakness, respiratory symptoms etc, they might be a suspected case of monkeypox.

“Monkeypox cases have been reported from non-endemic countries and containing the outbreak will depend on better understanding of transmission. It is important to avoid misinformation and contact a doctor and health authorities in case symptoms appear. The virus is found in faeces, urine, saliva and semen of an infected person and transmission occurs by close contact unlike flu or Covid-19. We need to be vigilant but must not panic,” said Dr Manoj Sharma, senior consultant (internal medicine) at Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj.