Monkeypox Updates: Rajasthan to Screen Flyers, Send Their Samples to NIV Pune, Mumbai Gets Spcl Ward, Tamil Nadu Steps Up Vigil

Monkeypox Updates: Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are preparing in full swing to prevent cases of monkeypox from entering their region and India. The administration has been on toes after recent spread of the viral infection, common in West and Central Africa, in Europe and different parts of the world. Over 14 countries have reported cases.

Tamil Nadu health secretary has written to district collectors to step up vigil for monkeypox. People who report unexplained rashes, those who have travelled in the past 21 days to a country with confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases or those who have reported contact with confirmed or suspected monkeypox patients are to be placed under surveillance.

In Mumbai, the civic body has prepared a 28-bed ward at Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Chinchpokli, to isolate suspected cases of monkeypox. The BMC’s public health department on Monday released a statement that there were no confirmed cases in the city yet, but hospitals have been asked to be vigilant.

According to a report by Times of India, the beds are inside ward 30, which was used for isolation of H1N1 (swine flu) cases in the past and more recently for Covid-19 patients.

In Rajasthan, the health department has asked the authorities to screen the passengers and send the samples of the suspects to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune.

Here are All the Latest Updates Related to Monkeypox:

• According to the advisory issued by the Rajasthan government, passengers who have arrived in Rajasthan from Europe, Australia, US and Canada will have to undergo a screening process. If the report of a suspected traveller comes positive, then contact tracing will be done.

• The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has advised immunosuppressed people, pregnant women and children under 12 to avoid contact with any sick person or suspected case. People who are close contacts of those infected are being offered vaccines and told to isolate for up to 21 days.

• Vaccines are also being sought to fight the disease. The Canadian government is exploring the possibility of using the smallpox vaccine to protect people from monkeypox infection.

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