Delhi man tests positive for monkeypox, fourth case in India

New Delhi: A 34-year-old man from the national capital with no history of foreign travel has tested positive for monkeypox virus, official sources said on Sunday.

This is the fourth case of the disease being reported in India.

The man had attended a stag party recently in Manali in Himachal Pradesh, official sources told PTI.  

A resident of West Delhi, the man was admitted to the Maulana Azad Medical College Hospital here around three days ago after he showed symptoms of monkeypox.

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. 

Centre holds high-level meeting

The Centre on Sunday held a high-level review meeting after Delhi reported the fourth case in the country. 

Sources said the meeting was chaired by the Directorate General of Health Sciences (DGHS) and attended by officials from the Health ministry, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and ICMR among others.

The WHO had on Saturday declared monkeypox as a global public health emergency of international concern.

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.