A 31-year-old Nigerian man admitted to Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital tested positive for monkeypox on Tuesday, the Union health ministry said and added the patient does not have any foreign travel history. This is the third monkeypox case in Delhi while India’s tally has now reached eight.
“India currently has eight confirmed cases of monkeypox out of which five patients have a history of foreign travel,” Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya told Parliament on Tuesday.
Health ministry officials said five of the eight monkeypox cases have been reported from Kerala. Kerala on Monday reported India’s first monkeypox fatality after the test results of a 22-year-old man, who died on Saturday following his return from the United Arab Emirates, returned positive. The state authorities were investigating if monkeypox was the sole reason behind his death.
On Monday, a 35-year-old man from Nigeria with no recent history of foreign travel also tested positive for the disease.
The Delhi government has identified three private hospitals, where monkeypox isolation wards will be created for confirmed and suspected cases.
Kailash Deepak Hospital, MD City Hospital, and Batra Hospital will reserve 10 beds each (five for confirmed and five for suspected) to manage the isolation of monkeypox cases.
{{/usCountry}}Kailash Deepak Hospital, MD City Hospital, and Batra Hospital will reserve 10 beds each (five for confirmed and five for suspected) to manage the isolation of monkeypox cases.
{{/usCountry}}Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to in smallpox patients. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared it a public health emergency on July 23, it is clinically less severe than smallpox.
The Centre on Monday constituted a task force to monitor the disease, which can be transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids or the lesions of the infected person. The disease can also be spread through indirect contact with lesion material, such as through contaminated clothing or linen. So far, 75 countries have reported at least 22,000 cases of the infection.