Two More Monkeypox Cases In India

Two more cases of Monkeypox were detected in the country, officials of by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, officials informed on Friday.

Out of the 12 samples collected by the AIIMS, two have come out positive, they said, adding that the patients were later admitted to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP) hospital.

"Both the patients who tested positive for monkeypox here have no recent travel history. So, far there is really more than enough capacity in the country to do the testing. 15 labs are already authorised by ICMR for testing across the country," said Dr Lalit Dar, Professor, Dept of Microbiology, AIIMS.

On Thursday, the hospital had tested 12 samples of suspected Monkeypox cases. The Virology Lab, AIIMS, Delhi is one of the 15 labs in the country that has been authorised by the Department of Health Research-Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Speaking to ANI, Dr Dar said, "At the Virology Laboratory Department of Microbiology, we have received 12 samples from different states. We have also received samples from Delhi."

So far, AIIMS, Delhi received samples from Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.

Notably, the patients who tested positive for Monkeypox in the AIIMS lab do not have any recent travel history abroad.

On the capacity of conducting tests, Dr Lalit said, "Right now we are getting a couple of samples on daily basis, which is not a large number. During COVID, the government augmented the RTPCR testing capacity. For Monkeypox, RTPCR is done. We have the capacity of conducting 400 samples a day depending on requirement and number of patients."

He further said, "So, far there is really more than enough capacity in the country to do the testing. 15 labs are already authorized by the Department of Health Research, ICMR for testing across the country."

Meanwhile, isolation rooms were made operational in the wake of an increase in the number of Monkeypox cases in the country.

These isolation rooms are operational in three major central government hospitals i.e Safdarjang hospital, RML hospital and Lady Hardinge hospital, as reported by ANI.