“Not a single case of monkeypox has been reported here so far. International travellers are being tested for Covid-19 & Monkeypox. The chess players who come from overseas for the 44th Chess Olympiad would have to get tested, too,” Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian told news agency ANI.

Additionally, the minister noted that as many as 50,000 vaccination camps have been set up across Tamil Nadu today. “As of 11 in the morning, over 2,64,597 doses have been administered. We are encouraging the masses to take the booster dose,” the Health Minister said.

Meanwhile, Delhi on Sunday reported the first case of monkeypox in the country. A 31-year-old man with no travel history, has tested positive for monkeypox said Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital. This is the fourth case of the viral disease in India and the first case without a travel history and the patient has been admitted to Maulana Azad Medical College. He was admitted to the hospital with fever and skin lesions. 

Notably, the earlier monkeypox cases reported in India were from nationals who returned home from the Middle Eastern countries. The first case of Monkeypox virus in India was reported on July 14 after a UAE traveller returned to Kerala. He has been admitted to Thiruvananthapuram medical college. While India reported its second case of monkeypox in Kerala’s Kannur district on July 18 and on July 22 India reported its third case of monkeypox in Kerala’s Malappuram district.

Earlier on Saturday, World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a public health emergency of international concern, looking at the expanding monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.” According to World Health Organisation (WHO), monkeypox is a viral zoonotic infection caused by the monkeypox virus. It spreads mostly from human contact.

(With inputs from ANI)

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