The Union Health Ministry and Family Welfare today has rushed a high-level team to Maharashtra to monitor the Zika virus situation. The decision was taken after Pune district in Maharashtra recorded the state’s first case of the Zika virus infection.
The multi-disciplinary will support the Maharashtra government in checking the spread of the virus. A group of three members consists of a public health expert from the office of Regional Director, Pune; a gynaecologist from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi; and an entomologist from National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), ICMR, New Delhi.
The Health Ministry has officially stated that The team shall work closely with the state health department, take stock of the situation on the ground and assess whether the Union health ministry’s action plan for Zika management is being implemented.
An official report stated that a 50-year-old woman was found positive with the Zika virus in Belsar village in Pune’s Purandar tehsil. Doctors said that the infection in the patient is mild and no other family member has developed any of the symptoms.
Maharashtra’s Surveillance Officer Dr Pradip Awate said “Since the first week of July, several cases with fever were being reported in Belsar village. From the samples that we sent for testing, 21 people had Chikungunya, three had Dengue and one was reported positive for Zika and Chikungunya both,”
Meanwhile, the local administration has swung into action after confirmation of the Zika virus case. Along with the village where the woman lives, seven others that fall within the five-kilometre radius too are being surveyed to ensure that every symptomatic patient is tested.
Zilla Parishad chief executive officer Ayush Prasad said Zika is not as contagious as the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and there is no need to panic.
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