Third Monkeypox case detected in India after UAE returnee tests positive in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The third case of the Monkeypox infection from the country as well as state of Kerala has been reported in a 35-year-old man who came to the state from UAE earlier this month.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George said the Malappuram native arrived in the state on July 6 and was undergoing treatment at the Manjeri Medical College there.

His health condition is stable, she added.

The minister also said all those who were in close contact with the patient are being closely monitored.

India's first case was reported on July 14 in a man travelling to Kerala. A 31-year-old man from Kannur in Kerala, who returned from Dubai, tested positive for monkeypox on July 18, making it the second confirmed case of the disease in India.

Following this, a high-level central multi-disciplinary team of experts has been deployed to assist the state's health department in its outbreak control and containment efforts. Kerala also has taken several measures and issued a fresh set of guidelines to deal with the disease.

In keeping with the latest developments, the state government on Wednesday issued standard operating procedures (SOP) for isolation, sample collection, and treatment of those infected or showing signs of the same. Kerala Health Minister Veena George, in a release, gave details of the SOP which is to be followed by all private and government hospitals. She said that any person who has traveled in the last 21 days to a country where monkeypox has been reported and is having red spots on the body along with one or more of the other symptoms, like fever, headache, body ache or fever, should suspect infection by the virus.