A 34-year-old man from the national capital with no history of foreign travel has tested positive for the monkeypox virus, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement on Sunday. This is the fourth case of the disease being reported in India. Three cases of monkeypox had earlier been reported from Kerala.

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. The close contacts of the case have been identified and are under quarantine as per the MoHFW guidelines.

His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune on Saturday which came out positive, the sources said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that a team is working to prevent the spread.

“Further public health interventions like identification of the source of infection, enhanced contact tracing, testing sensitisation of private practitioners etc are being carried out,” the Union Health Ministry said in its statement. 

A high-level review of the situation has been planned by DGHS at 3 PM today. 

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

Published on July 24, 2022