Kerala govt intensifies battle against monkeypox, holds talks with Central team

The Kerala government has intensified the monkeypox preventive measures in the State in the wake of the first case confirmed in the country State Health Minister Veena George said on Saturday after a discussion with the Central team which came here to assess the situationThe Minister said the Health Department is also observing those with chicken pox or similar symptoms in order to ensure that they do not have monkeypoxShe said random samples would be tested to ascertain whether anyone else was infectedThe surveillance at the airport will be intensified As part of it the Health Department will hold discussions with the airport authorities If anyone found with symptoms steps will be taken to isolate them and ambulances have been arranged to shift them to hospitals Minister said in a releaseAlso Read Israel reports 11 new monkeypox cases total at 66She said training for monkeypox prevention is being held in a comprehensive manner and till now over 1200 health workers have been trainedThe health condition of the patient who was confirmed with the infection is stable No one else has been diagnosed with the disease yet All his contacts are under observation The Health Department is constantly in touch with his contacts and speaks to them twice a day over phone to enquire about their mental and physical health the Minister said She said the Central team held discussion with her and the health officials as well They included the principal secretary the public health officials They visited the patient at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical CollegeMoHFW advisor Dr P Ravindran Joint Director of NCDC National Centre for Disease Control Dr Sanket Kulkarni Dr Anuradha from RML Hospital New Delhi dermatologist Dr Akhilesh Thoke and public health specialist Dr Ruchi Jain are part of the teamThe countrys first case of monkeypox in Kerala was confirmed on Thursday through the testing of the samples of the symptomatic person at the National Institute of Virology PuneThe first case is that of a Keralite who returned from the UAE on July 12All his contacts were identified and 11 of his copassengers his family members an autodriver a taxi driver and a dermatologist of a private hospital where the infected person sought treatment first are under observationA special alert has been issued to five districts as people from Thiruvananthapuram Kollam Pathanamthitta Alappuzha and Kottayam were copassengers of the infected person on the SharjahThiruvananthapuram Indigo flight that landed here on July 12This 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