Tamil Nadu Health Department principal secretary J Radhakrishnan urged the returnees to report symptoms.
Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu):
The Tamil Nadu government has appealed to people coming from different countries, including African countries, to report to the local health authority if they have any symptoms of monkeypox, a top official said on Sunday.
Health department principal secretary J Radhakrishnan said it was because of the strong surveillance mechanism by the government, that it was able to detect COVID-19 cases apart from containing its spread.
“We have received interim guidelines from the Center on Monkeypox Disease. That is, people arriving from African countries or Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States, although did not show any symptoms at the airport, developed some symptoms within 21 days. On their arrival, they will have to inform the local health officer,” he told reporters after inspecting the district government hospital in Tiruchirappalli.
People should remain alert and follow the COVID-19 protocols laid down by the government, he said.
“We have been told that the disease will not be serious, but we have to be careful to contain it. Till now, no case related to monkeypox has been reported in the country,” he said.
Noting that the health department has strengthened the medical infrastructure in Tamil Nadu, he said it was because of the robust surveillance mechanism that the government was able to identify the cluster of virus cases reported in the state.
“First, we had detected cluster of virus cases in IIT-Madras campus and later in another private medical college. Now, we have traced another cluster at a private engineering college in Kelambakkam in the city. Identified All 31 cases are doing well,” he said.
Mr Radhakrishnan said the students who tested positive for COVID-19 on the IIT Madras campus and private medical college “have fully recovered.”
Responding to a query, he said that 410 students in the private engineering college were screened and 31 have tested positive for COVID-19 so far.
“These incidents in educational institutions indicate that when the virus is decreasing in the state, we are giving it an opportunity to grow by not following the COVID-19 behaviour,” he said.
Strongly advocating for vaccination as it was the only mechanism to stop the spread of the virus, he said that there are 1.21 crore people who have not yet received the second dose of vaccination while 43.45 lakh people have received the first dose.
“Another 1.3 million people are eligible to receive a booster dose and are yet to receive it,” he said.
“Chief Minister (MK Stalin) is directing officials to strengthen medical infrastructure. We have also strengthened testing facilities. We urge people to wear face-masks in public, maintain social distancing And get vaccinated,” he said.
Tamil Nadu is reporting a decline in new COVID-19 cases due to public vaccination, adherence to COVID-19 behaviour, he said.
Referring to the status of virus cases in neighboring states, Mr Radhakrishnan said Kerala is reporting over 700 cases, while Karnataka is reporting over 150 cases on a daily basis.
“Mumbai is reporting 350 cases per day, whereas, overall, as a state, Maharashtra recorded over 500 cases per day. Tamil Nadu reported the highest with 22 cases on April 15 and Chennai with 12 cases. Recorded less, but now Metro is reporting 30-40 cases. It shows that we should be alert,” he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)