New Delhi: Urging citizens not to panic over the cases of monkeypox detected in India, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that Indian scientists have isolated the monkeypox virus adding that he is confident that soon a vaccine for the disease will be developed in India.
As for the measures taken by the Union Government to prevent the spread of the disease in the country, the Health Minister said that when cases started appearing in the world, India had already started making preparations.
Also read: 5th monkeypox case confirmed in Kerala, 7th in India
"Before the first case in Kerala, we had issued guidelines to all the states. We sent an expert team and helped state governments. Contact tracing was done," he said. "Monkeypox is not a new disease in India and in the world, since 1970 a lot of cases are being seen from Africa. WHO has paid special attention to this. Monitoring has started in India too," he added.
He also said that the Union Government has set up a task force to monitor the monkeypox cases in the country. Asked about the progress made for vaccines for monkeypox, the Health Minister said The Health Minister's comment comes on a day when the fifth case on monkeypox was detected in Kerala taking Inda's tally to seven.
