India has reported its first case of monkeypox after a man, who returned from the UAE, has tested positive for the disease in Kerala, state Health Minister Veena George said on Thursday.
The person landed at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Tuesday and is "quite stable, with all vitals normal", she said.
The central government has sent a team, which has experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), to assist the state, reports NDTV.
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"There is nothing to worry about or to be anxious about. All the steps are being taken and the patient is stable," the state minister told news agency ANI, sharing no further specifics about the patient.
She said his primary contacts have been identified — his father, mother, a taxi driver, an auto driver, and 11 fellow passengers from adjacent seats.
She had said hours earlier that "a person who returned from abroad" was admitted to a hospital with symptoms of monkeypox. His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology.
The central government, earlier in the day, also wrote to states to take precautions.
Concerned over cases in Europe and America — monkeypox is rarely reported outside Africa — the Indian government had in May issued guidelines about isolation and contact-tracing.
The virus causes fever symptoms besides distinctive bumpy rashes. That is usually manageable, though one of two strains is more dangerous. The Congo strain causes death in up to 10 per cent of the patients. The West African strain is milder, with a fatality rate of around 1 per cent.
