Rajasthan issues advisory for passengers from monkeypox affected countries

In view of rising monkeypox cases in some parts of the world, the Rajasthan government, as a precautionary measure has issued guidelines for the passengers coming from Europe, Australia, US and Canada into the state. There has been a recent spike in cases as over 100 infections were confirmed in Europe and some other countries.  

On Monday, the Medical Health Department asked the authorities to screen the passengers and send the samples of the suspects to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune. Monkeypox is a viral infection that is more common in West and Central Africa. 

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What monkeypox advisory says

Passengers travelling down to Rajasthan from Europe, Australia, US or Canada will have to go through the screening process.

If the report of the suspected traveller comes positive for monkeypox virus, then contact tracing will be done. 

India has stepped up surveillance and asked its port, airport officers to be vigilant and isolate sick persons travelling from affected countries.

The health ministry has also asked officials to undertake strict thermal screening for suspected international passengers.

Thermal screening of those international passengers will be done with history of travel to monkeypox affected countries in last 21 days.

Health ministry has directed National Centre for Disease Control and Indian Council of Medical Research to keep a close watch on the situation.

They have been asked to strengthen community surveillance for early detection of any positive case, official sources said.

List of countries where cases are detected

WHO has stated that the recent outbreaks have been reported across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Israel and several European countries like Spain, Portugal, Sweden, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland.

What is worrying the world health organisation, is the fact that these are atypical as they are occurring in non-endemic countries. Monkeypox is a rare viral infection, which is common to the tropical areas of west and central Africa. The first human infection was recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970. The first case in the US and UK was reported in 2003 and 2018, respectively.