INTERNATIONAL DESK: India has started discussions with vaccine makers for developing a Monkeypox vaccine, as cases have increased globally, a senior government official revealed.

“We are already engaging with the potential players,” Bloomberg quoted Vinod Kumar Paul, member of government think tank NITI Aayog and head of the national task force on Covid-19, as saying.

“As you know, we have a strong presence of our vaccine capacity, so that’s also under the government’s active consideration,” he added.

As of now there are 4 confirmed and 1 suspected cases of Monkeypox in the country. In wake of this scenario, the government has designated 15 laboratories to diagnose Monkeypox and has adequate equipment to carry out two-step RT PCR tests, a government official reported to Bloomberg.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had earlier declared Monkeypox as a global public health emergency of international concern.

Kerala was the first state to confirm a Monkeypox case, the number later increased to three in the same state. The state government hence issued standard operating procedures (SOP) for isolation, sample collection and treatment of those infected or showing signs of the same.

Following the SOP, any person who has travelled in the last 21 days to a country where Monkeypox has been reported and is having red spots on the body along with one or more of the other symptoms, like fever, headache, body ache or fever, should suspect infection by the virus.

A 34-year-old west Delhi resident with no history of travel outside India was last confirmed positive for this illness. (The Economic Times)