New Delhi: The first case of the ‘ampoxvirus’ strain that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared a public health emergency of concern last month has been reported in India, with a man in Kerala testing positive for the virus last week, official sources said on Monday.
He said a 38-year-old man from Mallapuram who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates has been found infected with the ‘Clade 1B strain’. Sources said the patient’s condition is stable. He said, “This was the first case of this variant. Due to this variant, the World Health Organization declared ampox a public health emergency for the second time last month.”
The earlier case of ampox reported in the national capital was that of a 26-year-old man from Hisar in Haryana, who was found infected with the West African ‘Clade 2’ variant earlier this month.
Since the WHO declared ampox a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ in 2022, 30 cases have been reported in India.
Meanwhile, Kerala Health Minister Veena George has appealed to those returning from abroad and others to inform the health department if they have any symptoms and get treatment as soon as possible.
In a social media post, he also released a list of government hospitals in various districts where treatment and isolation facilities have been arranged for the affected persons. He said that apart from this, treatment is also available in all the medical colleges of the state.