LOC14:44
11:44 GMT
NEW DELHI, July 24 (KUNA) -- The Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said Sunday that a 34-year-old male resident of Delhi was diagnosed with monkey pox, taking the total number of cases in the country into four.
The patient was isolated at Lok Nayak Hospital as a suspected case of monkey pox and the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune city confirmed the diagnosis.
"The case is presently recovering at the designated isolation centre at Lok Nayak Hospital. The close contacts of the case have been identified are under quarantine as per the health ministry guidelines," the ministry said in a statement.
The authorities are carrying out public health interventions including tracing the source of infection, enhanced contact tracing, testing sensitisation of private practitioners etc. The patient has no foreign travel record.
Earlier, three monkey pox cases were reported in the southern Indian state of Kerala the first being on July 13.
All the three cases in Kerala have returned from the UAE. The central Ministry of Health and Family Welfare dispatched a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Kerala to help institute public health measures.
The World Health Organization stated yesterday that the global monkey pox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.
The WHO announcement came as monkey pox spread to more than 75 countries infecting around 16000 patients and killing five people.
India was hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic as death toll reached 526033 people yesterday while there are 152,200 active cases.
India had appealed for the support of the international community as the health system struggled to treat huge number of patients. The overall Covid-19 tally in the country stands at 43,888,755. (end)
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