The Union Health Ministry has asked all airports and authorities at land ports on Bangladesh and Pakistan's borders to be on the lookout for incoming international passengers reporting Mpox symptoms, according to official sources on Sunday.
- The ministry has designated three Centre-run hospitals in the national capital -- Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung, and Lady Hardinge -- as nodal centres for the isolation, management, and treatment of any Mpox patient.
- 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.
