NEW DELHI: A 31-year-old man from Delhi who does not have any history of foreign travel has tested positive for the monkeypox virus, according to official sources on Sunday.
This brings the total number of cases in the country to four.
Official sources told PTI that the man had recently attended a stag party in Manali, Himachal Pradesh.
A resident of West Delhi, he was admitted to Maulana Azad Medical College Hospital three days ago after showing symptoms of monkeypox.
He presented with rashes and fever. Doctors said that his health condition is satisfactory at present. He is now in the isolation ward. Officials said they are tracing those who came in contact with him.
Sources added that the samples taken from him have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune on Saturday which came out positive for the disease.
"Contact tracing process has been initiated," the sources said.
Earlier, three cases of the disease were reported in Kerala.
The World Health Organization on Saturday declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. Monkeypox virus is transmitted via direct or indirect contact from infected animals to humans.
Human-to-human transmission can occur through direct contact with infectious skin or wounds, including face-to-face, skin-to-skin, and respiratory droplets.
Globally, more than 16,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 75 countries, and the outbreak has so far resulted in five deaths.
In the WHO South-East Asia Region, one case was detected in Thailand apart from India.
With input from agencies