Mpox: Health Ministry directs airports, borders to stay alert

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry instructed all airports as well as authorities at land ports on borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan to remain alert about incoming international passengers reporting Mpox symptoms, official sources said on Sunday.

The ministry has identified three Centre-run hospitals -- Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge -- as nodal centres in the national capital for isolation, management and treatment of any patient with Mpox.

All state governments have been asked to identify such designated hospitals under their jurisdiction, the sources said. P K Mishra, the principal secretary to the prime minister, chaired a high-level meeting on Sunday to review the country's preparedness for Mpox amid enhanced surveillance for prompt detection.

Officials said there is no reported case of Mpox in the country as of now. As per the current assessment, the risk of a large outbreak with sustained transmission is low, they said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in view of its prevalence and spread across many parts of Africa.

"The virus strain this time is different and is more virulent and infectious. But the risk of a large outbreak with sustained transmission is low in the country as per the current assessment," an official source said.

The health ministry has directed officials to enhance surveillance and effective measures to be taken for prompt detection of Mpox cases. It has stressed that the network of testing laboratories should be geared up for early diagnosis of the disease. At present, 32 laboratories in the country are equipped for testing Mpox.

Mishra on Sunday said protocols for prevention and treatment of the disease should be disseminated on a large scale, stressing the importance of running an awareness campaign among healthcare providers about the signs and symptoms of the disease and the need for timely notification to the surveillance system.

An earlier statement from WHO stated that 99,176 cases and 208 deaths had been reported due to Mpox from 116 countries globally since 2022. Mpox cases have been steadily increasing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Last year, the number of reported cases around the world increased significantly. This year, the number of cases reported so far has already exceeded last year's total, with more than 15,600 cases and 537 deaths. Since 2022, thirty Mpox cases were reported in India. The last case of Mpox was detected in March 2024.