India has accelerated action on the monkeypox virus after reporting the country’s first death from the disease. A 22-year-old man who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates has reportedly died of monkeypox in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
The young man’s death is the first from monkeypox in Asia. Several Asian countries have reported outbreaks of the virus infection which was declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization.
Kerala health authorities announced the death on Monday after confirming that the man had monkeypox. He died in hospital on Saturday, about a week after returning from the United Arab Emirates, where his family said he had tested positive for monkeypox. By the time doctors were notified, he was in critical condition.
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Samples from the man tested in India also detected the virus, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said.
This is the fourth death from monkeypox reported globally outside of Africa. So far there have been two victims of monkeypox in Spain and one in Brazil.
Kerala health authorities said about 20 people, who had been in contact with the 22-year-old man, were being monitored. Passengers who were on a flight with him from the United Arab Emirates to Kerala have also been contacted and authorities have urged people with symptoms of monkeypox to tell doctors.
After the deaths were reported in Kerala, the federal government said it had set up a task force to monitor the outbreak in the country.
Fifteen laboratories have been appointed to diagnose monkeypox, while several states, including the capital New Delhi, have set up isolation wards.
India has so far detected six cases of monkeypox – four in Kerala and two in New Delhi. [uh/ab]
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