Testing at airports, random checks across cities: Kerela issues new Monkeypox guidelines. Check full list here
1 min read 16 Jul 2022, 07:06 PM ISTHealth Department is observing those with chicken pox or similar symptoms in order to ensure that they do not have monkeypox Random samples would be tested to ascertain whether anyone else was infected
PremiumAfter the first confirmed case of monkeypox has been reported from Kerala, the state government on Saturday said that it has intensified preventive measures. State Health Minister Veena George said the decision regarding the new measures was taken after a detailed discussion with the Central team that visited the state to assess the situation.
Monkeypox preventive measures in Kerala:
- Health Department is observing those with chicken pox or similar symptoms in order to ensure that they do not have monkeypox
- Random samples would be tested to ascertain whether anyone else was infected
- The surveillance at the airport will be intensified. “If anyone found with symptoms, steps will be taken to isolate them and ambulances have been arranged to shift them to hospitals," the health minister said.
Meanwhile, training for monkeypox prevention is being held in a comprehensive manner and till now over 1,200 health workers have been trained.
Earlier this week, India's first monkeypox case was reported from Kerala. The person returned from the UAE on July 12. All his contacts were identified and 11 of his co-passengers, his family members, an auto-driver, a taxi driver and a dermatologist of a private hospital, where the infected person sought treatment first, are under observation.
"The health condition of the patient who was confirmed with the infection is stable. No one else has been diagnosed with the disease yet. All his contacts are under observation. The Health Department is constantly in touch with his contacts and speaks to them twice a day over phone to enquire about their mental and physical health," the Minister said.
The minister also said that the meeting with the Central team was very fruitful. The team that visited Kerala comprised experts drawn from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr RML Hospital, New Delhi, and senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The team has been constituted and deployed with an aim to assist the State Government of Kerala in investigating the outbreak.
A special alert has been issued to five districts as people from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kottayam were co-passengers of the infected person on the Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram Indigo flight that landed here on July 12.
(With inputs from agencies)
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