Shillong, Aug 20: Meghalaya’s health department is “closely monitoring the situation” after the Union Health Ministry issued an advisory on Monday to states to be alert in view of the outbreak of Monkeypox (Mpox) in different parts of the world .

Apart from the Union Health Ministry, the World health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak of mpox as a global public health emergency. The virus strain of the Mpox is a new variant this time and is more virulent and infectious, which has raised concerns of health experts and policy makers.

A senior state health official said that at present the department is closely monitoring the situation. “We also received an advisory from the (Union Health) ministry. We have to see the situation…”, a senior state health official said.

On Monday the central government issued an advisory putting authorities on the alert in “airports, ports and border areas” with Bangladesh and Pakistan over incoming citizens of these countries in view of the outbreak of mpox.

The Union Health Ministry has asked the states to keep hospitals ready to handle Mpox cases. State hospitals would act as nodal centres to disseminate necessary information on Mpox. The centre has also asked testing laboratories to be ready and there are currently 32 such testing laboratories which can do the testing on Mpox.

The current outbreak of Mpox began early this year and some estimates put the number of people affected with the new variant of mpox at close to 30,000. There have been more than a 1000 deaths reported, especially in parts of Africa.

Mpox mainly spreads through physical contact with an infected person, including touch, kissing, or sexual activity or via contaminated materials (e.g., clothing, linens) and from bites, scratches of infected animals and humans.

Pregnant individuals can pass the virus to their unborn children. The symptoms of the disease include rashes on the body accompanied with fever, headache and muscle ache, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue.

Reportedly, health experts say the “risk of a large outbreak with sustained transmission is low in the country as per the current assessment”.

Nonetheless, Meghalaya in such a scenario has its task cut out with the 444 km long India-Bangladesh border and considering the present law and order situation in Bangladesh.

There have been several attempts by Bangladeshis to infiltrate into India and some were arrested. The BSF on Monday nabbed three Bangladeshis (two male and one female) while they tried to infiltrate into India from Bangladesh in the Jaintia Hills sector.

Moreover, the constant movement of people involved in international trade with Bangladesh also is an area that would certainly be given a closer look by the health experts.

Watch

Find latest news from every corner of Northeast India at hubnetwork.in, your online source for breaking news, video coverage.

Also, Follow us on-

Twitter-twitter.com/nemediahub

Youtube channel- www.youtube.com/@NortheastMediaHub2020

Instagram- www.instagram.com/ne_media_hub

Download our app from playstore – Northeast Media Hub