Centre holds meet to review monkeypox situation; Delhi reports India’s fourth case of monkeypox

Centre held a high-level review meeting to take stock of the monkeypox situation in the country. Union Health Secretary, Directorate General of Health Services and Director of National Centre for Disease Control held a meeting with the joint monitoring group yesterday afternoon.

States and Union Territories have been advised to undertake close surveillance. With a 34-year-old man with no history of foreign travel testing positive yesterday in the national capital, the Delhi government has now been advised to undertake contact tracing.

Four cases of monkeypox have so far been reported from India, and another suspected case was flagged in Telangana yesterday evening. The patient remains in a Hyderabad hospital and his samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) lab in Pune for testing.

World Health Organisation has already declared monkeypox a global public health emergency of international concern. Over 16,000 cases have so far been reported from 75 countries.