NEW DELHI: India’s Health Ministry reported the first case of monkeypox in New Delhi on Sunday, bringing the country’s caseload to four amid an outbreak that the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency a day earlier.
India confirmed its first monkeypox case on July 15, involving a patient in the southern Indian state of Kerala who had traveled from the UAE a few days earlier. Officials have confirmed two more cases in Kerala since then.
The WHO declared the monkeypox outbreak as a “public health emergency of international concern” on Saturday, a designation the organization currently uses to describe only two other diseases — COVID-19 and polio. At least 75 countries have reported more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox.
The Indian Health Ministry identified Delhi’s first — and India’s fourth — monkeypox case as a 34-year-old male resident. Officials said that the patient was recovering, and that his close contacts were under quarantine.
“Further public health interventions like identification of the source of infection, enhanced contact tracing, testing sensitization of private practitioners etc are being carried out,” the ministry said in a statement.
Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, took to Twitter to confirm the first monkeypox case in the capital.
“There’s no need to panic. The situation is under control,” he said. “Our best team is on the case to prevent the spread and protect Delhiites.”
Monkeypox is a viral disease that spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions.
Though it has been a concern for years in some African countries, the virus has spread worldwide in recent weeks. In the South and East Asia region, monkeypox has so far been detected in India and Thailand, according to the WHO.
WHO Regional Director Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh has called on countries in the region to strengthen surveillance and public health measures for monkeypox.
“Though the risk of monkeypox globally and in the region is moderate, the potential of its further international spread is real,” Singh said in a statement issued on Sunday.
“Also, there are still many unknowns about the virus. We need to stay alert and prepared to roll out an intense response to curtail further spread of monkeypox.”
T. Jacob John, an epidemiologist based in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, said that the government should be cautious about the outbreak and give the right advice for people and doctors.
“You respond to the situation wherever the case happens instead of taking expensive precautionary measures,” he said. “It is neither highly contagious nor dangerous.”
