The Centre demanded a stringent health check of all international visitors at ports and airports on Monday due to an elevated risk of monkeypox in the nation. The Union Health Ministry has requested that all ports and airports make sure that every passenger is screened.
State, airport, and port health officers advised ensuring health screening of all international travelers to minimize the risk of importation of monkeypox disease,” Following a meeting with senior representatives from the International Health Division, Disaster Management Cell, and airport and port health officers (APHOs and PHOs), regional directors from regional offices of health and family welfare, and APHOs and PHOs, the ministry issued a statement.
According to the “Guidelines for Management of Monkeypox sickness” published by the ministry of health, they received advice and were reoriented regarding the clinical presentation of the disease. In order to streamline health screening procedures and to ensure appropriate connections with hospital facilities designated to each port of entry for prompt referral and isolation, the Center has also called for effective coordination with other stakeholder agencies like Immigration at international ports and airports. Senior representatives from the Disaster Management Cell and International Health Division attended the meeting.
The warning was issued on the same day that Kerala, the state where India’s first case of monkeypox was discovered, reported a second instance of the zoonotic disease. On July 13, the patient arrived from Dubai at the Mangalore airport in coastal Karnataka. He was brought to the hospital after exhibiting zoonotic illness symptoms. When his samples were transferred to NIV in Pune, they were found to have monkeypox.
A native of the Kollam district who had just returned from the UAE was the first patient. Monkeypox, which is classified as a viral zoonosis by the World Health Organization (WHO), has symptoms that were once associated with smallpox patients but are now less severe clinically. Monkeypox has taken over as the most significant orthopoxvirus for public health since smallpox was eradicated in 1980 and smallpox vaccinations were subsequently discontinued.
