Suspected monkeypox patient dies in Kerala, probe ordered

A Kerala man, suspected to be a patient of monkeypox disease, died on Sunday in Kerala's Thrissur. The 22-year-old had arrived from a middle eastern country last month.

The state health department said that it has asked the district health officials to create a route map of his trip ever since he had landed in his hometown.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George said that a high-level inquiry will be conducted into the death of a person with symptoms of monkeypox in Chavakkad Kuranjiyur. The result of the test conducted in a foreign country was positive.

Delay in seeking treatment will be investigated, she said, adding that the health department called a meeting in Punnayur regarding the death of a young man due to monkeypox.

According to the news agency IANS, the health department said that they were waiting for the report from the virology lab at Alappuzha to confirm the disease. If found positive, the swab samples would be sent to National Virology Lab, Pune for further testing.

If his report comes positive, this would be the first monkeypox death in India and the fourth outside Africa.

The health department has also called upon those with whom he was in touch after his arrival in India from a middle eastern country to isolate and monitor them.

The youth after reaching home on July 22 had played football along with his friends and so all of them have been asked to go in isolation after the youth was detected with the disease.