Monkeypox not a new disease, don't panic: Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya

In the wake of the rising cases of monkeypox in the country Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday assured citizens not to panic and said that an awareness campaign is being run in collaboration with the state governments to prevent the spread of the infectionSpeaking in Rajya Sabha today during the ongoing Monsoon session of the Parliament the Union Minister said There is no need to be afraid of monkeypox an awareness campaign is being run in collaboration with the state governments Public awareness is very necessary in the context of monkeypox We have also formed a task force under the chairmanship of a member of NITI Aayog on behalf of the Government of IndiaOn the basis of the observations of the task force we will assess and study the further action to be taken If the state government of Kerala needs any kind of help from the Central government it will be given Also an expert team of the Central government is guiding the state government from time to time he saidThe Union Minister highlighted that when Monkeypox cases started appearing in the world India had already started preparations Before the first case in Kerala we had issued guidelines to all the states he saidThe Health Minister said that it has been written to the governments at the international level that the screening report of the travellers should also be sent to the respective authorities concerned If someone in the family has had Monkeypox then keeping a distance from him for 1213 days is advised and thus the spread can be controlled With constant vigilance we can control it well he saidNoting that the first case of Monkeypox in India was reported in Kerala the Health Minister said When the case came to Kerala we sent an expert team helped the state government Contact tracing was done Just like we exercised caution in the case of COVID19 we are also doing our best to implement what we learned in battling Monkeypox Mandaviya saidRecalling that Monkeypox is not a new disease the Union Minister said that since the 1970s a lot of cases are being seen in the world from Africa WHO has paid special attention to this Monitoring has started in India also he saidHighlighting that the Indian Council of Medical Research ICMR is willing to make available a vaccine to contain the impact of Monkeypox the minister said For the first in the country the monkeypox virus strain has been isolated by the Indian Council of Medical ResearchNational Institute of Virology Pune The institution has invited an Expression of Interest EOI proposing to hand over the strain to industry partners for the development of indigenous vaccine and diagnostic kits for the diseaseDays after the death of one person with Monkeypoxlike symptoms in the state another Monkeypox case has been confirmed in Kerala as a UAE returnee tested positive today This is the fifth case of the viral disease in the state so farKerala Health Minister Veena George confirmed the news of another Monkeypox case in the state news agency ANI reportedThe 30yearold patient is currently undergoing treatment in Malappuram the health minister saidHe had reached Kozhikode airport on July 27 from the UAE and was undergoing treatment at the Manjeri Medical College in Malappuram the minister saidThis is the fifth case of Monkeypox in the stateTwenty people have been quarantined in the states Thrissur district following the death of one person with Monkeypoxlike symptoms officials said on Monday Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus which belongs to the same family of viruses that causes smallpox The disease is endemic in regions like West and Central Africa but lately cases have been reported from nonendemic countries too according to the WHOThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever