Monkeypox tally rises to eight; Health Minister says work on for developing testing kits, vaccines
New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: The monkeypox case tally in the country reached eight on Tuesday as two more patients were reported in Kerala and Delhi, prompting states to ramp up preparations to check the spread of the infection.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said a national task force has been set up to monitor the development of diagnostics and vaccines.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has successfully isolated the monkeypox virus and an expression of interest has been floated for research institutions, vaccine and diagnostic kits manufacturers in India to take the virus strain for further research to develop a vaccine in the country, he informed Rajya Sabha.
Meanwhile, Union health ministry has written to the WHO representative in the UAE to ensure that air passengers exhibiting symptoms suggestive of monkeypox disease are not allowed to board flights to minimise the risk of disease transmission. Referring to three cases in which the passengers had come to India from the UAE, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal in a letter to Executive Director and IHR Focal Point, United Arab Emirates, Dr Hussain Abdul Rahman Ali Rand said they were already exhibiting symptoms suggestive of monkeypox disease before arrival in India.
Under Article 18 of International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005, the World Health Organization recommends member states to undertake exit screening measures at points of entry and if required impose restrictions on persons from affected areas in response to a public health emergency of international concern, he mentioned in the communication dated August 1.
"In view of the above, it is requested that exit screening of may be further intensified so as to ensure that persons exhibiting symptoms suggestive of monkeypox disease are not allowed to board the flight to minimise the risk of disease transmission," Agarwal said in the letter, copies of which were sent to WHO representative to India, Joint Secretary (Gulf), Ministry of External Affairs and Joint Secretary (U) in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Meanwhile, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said his firm is conducting research to find a vaccine against monkeypox.
Poonawalla is learnt to have briefed Mandaviya on the subject during a meeting at the Nirman Bhawan in the national capital on Tuesday.
With fresh cases being reported, other states too issued advisories regarding the infection, which has symptoms like fever, swollen lymph nodes, skin eruptions and lesions.
Till now, eight cases have been reported across the country, including three from Delhi and five from Kerala, which has also recorded a fatality due to the infection.
The new patient in Kerala has a foreign travel history. The 30-year-old man came to the state from UAE last month, while the Delhi patient had no recent history of taking a journey.
Amid rising concerns over the infection, Mandaviya informed Rajya Sabha about the various steps being taken to prevent the spread of the disease and to develop testing kits and vaccines.
The minister said the National Institute of Virology, Pune under ICMR has been designated as a referral laboratory for testing suspected cases.
In addition, 15 other ICMR-VRDL (Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory) network laboratories have been optimised to undertake diagnostic testing for monkeypox disease.
