A 34-year-old man from Delhi with no history of foreign travel has tested positive for monkeypox, the first case of the virus in the Indian capital, an official source said on Sunday.
A resident of West Delhi, the patient was admitted to the Maulana Azad Medical College Hospital around three days ago after he showed symptoms of monkeypox.
According to the source, his samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune on Saturday which came out positive.
With this, India’s overall monkeypox tally has increased to four.
The man had attended a stag party recently in Manali in Himachal Pradesh, official sources told PTI.
He had rashes and a fever. Currently, he is in a stable condition, say doctors. He is in an isolation ward right now. Officials said that those who came in contact of this person are being traced.
His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune on Saturday which came out positive, the sources said.
“Contact tracing process has been initiated,” the sources said.
Three cases of monkeypox had earlier been reported from Kerala.
On Saturday, the World Health Organization declared the global monkeypox outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.
The global health body said the expanding monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries is an “extraordinary” situation that now qualifies as a global emergency.
Monkeypox virus is transmitted from infected animals to humans via indirect or direct contact.
Human-to-human transmission can occur through direct contact with infectious skin or lesions, including face-to-face, skin-to-skin, and respiratory droplets.
Globally, over 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 75 countries and there have been five deaths so far due to the outbreak.
In the WHO South-East Asia Region, besides India, one case has been detected from Thailand.
(With Agencies Inputs)
