Hospitals, airports on alert as India prepares for mpox threat: Sources

The government has taken precautionary steps, including preparation of emergency wards and alerting airports, in the wake of mpox being declared a global public health emergency, Health Ministry sources said.

According to sources, the government has directed hospitals to identify patients with rashes and prepare isolation wards.

Three nodal hospitals in Delhi - Safdarjung, Lady Hardinge Medical College, and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital - have been marked for the same.

RT-PCR and nasal swab will be done on suspected



patients.

Airports have also been alerted to take necessary precautions, sources said.

The World Health Organisation recently declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years. A new strain of the virus has increased its potency, which appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.

India has not recorded any cases of the new strain of mpox so far. However, on August 16, Pakistan detected three mpox patients, who came to the country from the UAE.

Earlier, Sweden confirmed first case of mpox outside Africa.