Published Jul 17, 2022 | 9:08 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 28, 2022 | 10:50 AM
Second suspected Monkeypox detected in Kerala. (Representative Image/WHO)
Three days after India’s first case of Monkeypox was reported in Kerala, another youth from the state has been admitted to a government hospital in the Kannur district with symptoms of the viral zoonotic disease.
According to health officials, the youth recently returned from a Gulf country.
“The youth is under observation and treatment in an isolation ward at Pariaram Government Medical College Hospital,” a senior officer of the health department said.
The officer added that his samples have been collected and sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for the test.
The health officials have directed the youth’s family members to be in home isolation.
A day after the first Monkeypox case was confirmed, the state government stepped up surveillance and directed authorities of all four international airports and ports to be vigilant about identifying and isolating sick passengers flying in from outside the country.
The state government had ordered high vigil in the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, and Kottayam.
Health Minister Veena George at a press conference had told reporters that 35 passengers who sat close to the monkeypox-infected person on the Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram Indigo flight belonged to these districts.
She added that health officials have been directed to trace the whereabouts of the passengers travelling along with confirmed Monkeypox patients.
“These passengers will be contacted twice a day for 21 days to know if they are experiencing any health complications. We are also observing their close relatives,” the health minister had said then.
