Asia’s first monkeypox death reported in India

Shweta Sharma
·1 min read
A health worker walks inside an isolation ward built as a precautionary measure for the monkeypox patients at a civil hospital in Ahmedabad (AFP via Getty Images)
A health worker walks inside an isolation ward built as a precautionary measure for the monkeypox patients at a civil hospital in Ahmedabad (AFP via Getty Images)

India has confirmed its first monkeypox death in the southern state of Kerala, a state government minister confirmed on Monday.

The case is Asia’s first death from the disease, reported news agency Reuters.

The 22-year-old man, who had a travel history to the UAE, died on Saturday in a private hospital in Thrissur city.

Kerala health minister Veena George confirmed on Monday that his samples were confirmed positive for monkeypox by the country’s National Institute of Virology’s Alappuzha city unit in Kerala.

The state government will now conduct a high-level investigation over the death.

“His relatives handed over the test result only on Saturday. A high-level probe would be held into the death as monkeypox has a very low fatality rate,” said Ms George.

The man, who used to work in UAE, returned to India on 21 July.

India reported its outbreak of monkeypox cases for the first time on 15 July after a man had reached the country from the Middle East.

The country has reported a total four confirmed monkeypox cases, with three of them in Kerala.

More follows