NEW DELHI: Another man tested positive for Monkeypox in the capital on Monday, according to Lok Nayak Hospital doctors. He is the second person in Delhi to test positive for the infection. Also, two suspected patients of Monkeypox have also been admitted to the LNJP Hospital, said officials working with the nodal centre for management of the viral infection. All four patients are foreign nationals and they have been living in Delhi for the past several years.
Meanwhile, the Centre formed a task force, to be headed by NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul, to monitor the situation and decide on a response to tackle the disease spread, officials said on Monday. The Union health ministry's decision came following samples of a 22-year-old man, who died in Kerala, who turned out to be positive for Monkeypox on Monday.
Officials said the Indian Council of Medical Research has been directed to operationalise its network of labs and make arrangements for requisite diagnostics of the disease. Doctors at LNJP said, “The patient had come to the hospital after being referred by a private hospital two days back. He was tested positive after his samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology-Pune,” said doctors.
“So far there has been no case among Indian nationals in Delhi,” said an official, adding the four patients have compromised immunity. “They are immunocompromised individuals and have shown the symptoms of Monkeypox after being referred from other hospitals,” said the official.
Doctors said the four have been kept in the isolation ward of the hospital. “The first patient who tested positive is recuperating in the hospital and will be discharged once the scabs go away,” said doctors.