Bhubaneswar: The Health and Family Welfare department is fully prepared to deal with possible monkeypox threat, Director of Health Services Bijay Kumar Mohapatra said. Mohapatra’s revelation came in the wake of the recent detection of a monkeypox case in the country. “The Health Department in Odisha is well-prepared to deal with any possible monkeypox threat. The Centre has taken steps for keeping people with travel history to the monkeypox-affected countries in isolation if any symptom for the viral disease is found in them,” Mohapatra said.
The authorities have intensified screening at all international airports in the country. Anyone found with suspected symptoms of monkeypox will be kept in isolation, Mohapatra added. “There is no need to panic. Health authorities at the Centre and state are constantly monitoring the situation. The viral disease spreads only when we come in close contact with an infected person,” Mohapatra said.
Notably, monkeypox causes fevers, headaches, and muscle aches, as well as painful boils on the skin. It spreads from person to person through close, skin-to-skin contact. Around one lakh cases of monkeypox with 208 deaths in 116 countries have been reported so far.