India’s capital New Delhi records first monkeypox case; patient has no foreign travel history
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The 31-year-old man, who has not been named, is admitted to Maulana Azad Medical College,
The national capital Delhi has registered its first case of monkeypox virus, officials said on Sunday.
According to PTI news agency, which has cited official sources, the man has no history of foreign travel. However, as per sources, the patient attended a party in Himachal Pradesh. The Delhi government has been asked to track the patient's contacts. Meanwhile, more than 10 close contacts of the patient have already been isolated at his West Delhi residence.
The 31-year-old man, who has not been named, is admitted to Maulana Azad Medical College, confirms Health Ministry. The patient was admitted to the hospital with fever and skin lesions.
Notably, this is India’s fourth monkeypox case. The previous three have been reported from southern Kerala state.
The country's very first case was reported on July 14, while the second one was reported on July 14 in Kerala's Kannur district, and the third one was reported on July 22 in Kerala's Malappuram district.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George had said on Friday, "A 35-year-old man contracted the infection and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital where he was admitted for fever after returning from UAE on July 6."
On Saturday, the World Health Organisation declared monkeypox a global public health emergency of international concern.
The UN health agency has called on nations to adopt measures that protect the health, human rights and dignity of affected communities.
It informed that more than 16,000 cases have now been reported from 75 countries and there had been five deaths so far.
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria in the International Health Regulations. For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Ghebreyesus said that he had convened the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations a month earlier to assess whether the multi-country monkeypox outbreak represented a public health emergency of international concern.
So far, 3,040 cases of monkeypox from 47 countries had been reported to the WHO.
(With inputs from agencies)
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