The Central government on Thursday issued a fresh advisory to the states and Union Territories (UTs) over the Mpox (monkeypox), calling upon them to undertake appropriate activities to make people aware about the viral disease.

In an advisory issued to Chief Secretary of all the states and UTs, a copy of which was shared by the Health Ministry, Health Secretary Apurva Chandra wrote, “The World Health Organization on 14th August announced that the current outbreak of Mpox (previously known as Monkeypox) disease is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). This is the second time such Mpox disease associated PHEIC that has been declared by WHO under the International Health Regulations, 2005, to which India is a signatory.”

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Informing that the previous Mpox outbreak that started in 2022 was caused by Mpox virus clade II, he said, “The 2024 PHEIC is related to Mpox virus clade I which is more virulent and more transmissible than Mpox clade II.”

“This clade has been found outside Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) only during the current outbreak. Outside Africa, one case each of Mpox clade Ib has been recently reported from Sweden and Thailand. India is thus the third non-African country to report a case of clade Ib Mpox infection recently,” the Health Secretary said.

Highlighting actions that are required to be undertaken to prevent/minimise the risk of further spread of Mpox in India, he advised all states/UTs to undertake appropriate activities to make communities aware about the disease, its modes of spread, need/importance of timely reporting and preventive measures besides review of public health preparedness particularly at health facility level at the state and districts by senior officials.

Chandra emphasised on identification of isolation facilities in hospitals for taking care of both suspect and confirmed cases, availability of required logistics and trained human resources in such facilities and augmentation plan.

He said all suspected Mpox cases should be isolated and strict infection prevention and control measures should be put in place.

“Samples from skin lesions of any patient with suspected symptoms of Mpox should be sent to the designated labs immediately, and for those that test positive a sample should be sent to ICMR-NIV for genome sequencing to determine the clade. Robust diagnostic testing capability is already available; 36 labs supported by ICMR across the country and three commercial PCR kits validated by ICMR that are now approved by CDSCO,” Chandra said.

He further said the Health Ministry shall continue to monitor the situation closely and will extend all requisite support in this regard to states and UTs.