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After nine cases including one death over the last three weeks, a monkeypox scare seems to have gripped India and the Central government is planning to develop a vaccine.
Kerala is the most-affected state after it reported five cases, while the remaining four were detected in Delhi, including a 31-year-old woman from Nigeria who tested positive on Wednesday.
Twenty high-risk contacts are currently under observation in Kerala, including three health workers, a doctor and two nursing personnel from a private hospital.
The country's first case, reported in Kerala on July 14, fully recovered last weekend and was discharged from hospital.
Indian Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in parliament on Tuesday that India has five patients with a history of foreign travel.
He added that on May 1 the Central government had provided guidelines to all states on surveillance and contact-tracing and how to collect samples from suspected cases and send them to recognised laboratories for testing.
The Delhi government has asked three private hospitals to create isolation rooms for monkeypox cases.
The hospitals will be required to reserve five rooms for confirmed cases and five others for suspected cases.
Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by a virus that belongs to the same family of viruses that causes smallpox.
The disease is endemic in regions like West and Central Africa, but cases have been reported from non-endemic countries lately, according to the World Health Organisation.
Monkeypox typically manifests itself with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes, and may lead to a range of medical complications. It is usually a self-limiting disease with symptoms lasting for two to four weeks.
Kerala, which has a history of viral disease outbreaks, is on high alert. Neighbouring state Karnataka has also put its health authorities on high alert.
Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said a circular regarding enhanced surveillance and designated institutional isolation facilities was issued to all district administrations.
Mr V K Paul, a member of the Central government's apex think-tank NITI Aayog, has appealed to the public not to panic, as the government has taken "significant measures" to keep the disease under control.
Two weeks after the country's first case, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) floated a tender asking private and government pharma companies and institutions involved in research and development to come up with a monkeypox vaccine.
Indo-Asian News Service, AFP
