A day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Monkey pox outbreak a global health emergency, the Union health ministry’s Director General of Health Services held a high-level meeting on the viral disease on Sunday. Sources said the meeting was attended by officials from the health ministry, National Centre for Disease Control and ICMR, among others. Meanwhile, India detected its fourth Monkey pox case, in Delhi, on Sunday.
The Centre on Sunday held a high-level review meeting after a 34-year-old man from the national capital with no history of foreign travel tested positive for the monkey pox virus, making it the fourth case of the disease reported in India. Sources said the meeting was chaired by the Directorate General of Health Sciences and at
tended by officials from the Health ministry, National Centre for Disease Control and ICMR among others.
The new patient who is presently recovering at a designated isolation center at the Lok Nayak Hospital had attended a stag party in Manali in Himachal Pradesh recently, official sources told.
A resident of West Delhi, the patient was isolated at the Hospital around three days ago after he showed symptoms of the disease. His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune on Saturday which came out positive, Union Health Ministry officials said.
LNJP Hospital director Suresh Kumar said that the person was admitted two days ago. “He had fever and skin rash. We kept him under observation. Later, his samples were sent to Pune and on Sunday we received the report in which he was found positive for Monkeypox. He is being treated as per standard procedure. The patient has been isolated and is stable right now and is recovering well. It’s a DNA virus and is similar to chickenpox. We have to wear a face mask, maintain social distancing to prevent any transmission,” said Kumar.
The previous three cases were reported from Kerala. While one of them had returned from UAE, the other two had travelled from Dubai.
The WHO label of Public Health Emergency of International Concern is designed to sound an alarm that a coordinated international response is needed and could unlock funding and global efforts to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments.
It can be seen as an «alarm system», a «call to action» and «last resort» measure
under the 2005 International Health Regulations, states have a legal duty to respond promptly to a PHEIC.
Since 2009, there have been seven PHEIC declarations, including monkey pox: the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the 2014 polio declaration, the 2014 outbreak of Ebola in Western Africa, the 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic, the 2018–20 Kivu Ebola epidemic, and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.