Findings of the first in-depth analysis of clinical and genomic characteristics of the Clade Ib strain, published in the journal Virology, showed seven of the 10 individuals had a history of travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
There are currently no reported cases of Monkeypox in India even though cautionary measures will be put in place to prevent and control the spread of the disease, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.
This comes amid a rapid surge in spread of the disease in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and its detection in neighbouring countries as well.
Official sources said the last case of monkeypox in India was reported from Kerala in March this year.
The Kerala health department on Friday said another Mpox case was reported in the state and urged those who have symptoms to seek treatment.
The patient has been isolated at a designated hospital and is currently stable, it said, adding that there is no cause for concern.
It is not a part of the current public health emergency reported by WHO which is regarding clade 1 of mpox, it underlined.
A suspected case of mpox infection has been reported from Malappuram district of Kerala after a man who recently returned from Dubai showed symptoms of the disease.
Officials said Clade 1b strain has been detected in a 38-year-old man from Malappuram district who had recently returned from the United Arab Emirates.
The ministry has identified three Centre-run hospitals -- Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge -- as nodal centres in the national capital for isolation, management and treatment of any patient with mpox.
A 38-year-old man undergoing treatment in Kerala's northern Malappuram district has been confirmed to have contracted Mpox infection, the state health department said on Wednesday.
The Centre on Monday advised states and union territories to screen and test of all suspect mpox cases.
More than 16,000 cases have now been reported from 75 countries and there had been five deaths so far as a result of the outbreak.
Strict screening protocols are to be implemented for passengers arriving from central African countries affected by the outbreak.
Of the fresh cases, nine were caused by JN.1, increasing the number of infections tied to the new sub-variant in the state to 10, it said.
Considering the limited available evidence, the additional public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low at the global level, Singh said.
New York City mayor Eric Adams and New York City department of health and mental hygiene commissioner Ashwin Vasan on Saturday declared a public health emergency due to the monkeypox outbreak.
In the WHO South-East Asia region, four cases of monkeypox have been reported, three from India and one from Thailand.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, made the announcement while addressing a media briefing on COVID-19 and global health issues.
The Centre on Sunday held a high-level review meeting after a 34-year-old man from the national capital with no history of foreign travel tested positive for the monkeypox virus, making it the fourth case of the disease reported in India.
The committee acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic may be approaching an "inflexion point".
Delhi reported its fourth case of monkeypox on Wednesday, with a 31-year-old Nigerian woman testing positive for the disease, official sources said.
A 35-year-old man of African origin with no recent history of foreign travel has tested positive for monkeypox in Delhi, making it the country's eighth case and the city's third, official sources said on Tuesday.
According to these experts, a monkeypox outbreak can effectively be tackled by strong surveillance.
The Jharkhand government has asked health officials to remain on alert and arrange isolation beds in all district hospitals after a seven-year-old girl was detected with symptoms similar to monkeypox in Garhwa, an official said on Wednesday.
COVID-19 is on the verge of becoming endemic but Indian scientists are keeping a close watch on each new variant and the government would continue to maintain a high alert, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said, underlining that the virus has managed to survive and is going to stay.
"As of now, there is no data from any country to suggest these new subvariants are more clinically severe," Chief scientist at WHO clarified.
The World Health Organisation said in its latest update that the XE recombinant (BA.1-BA.2) was first detected in the UK on January 19 and more than 600 sequences have been reported and confirmed since then.
A 22-year-old man, who recently returned to Kerala from the UAE, allegedly died due to monkeypox on Saturday.
One has to stay in isolation for 21 days from the last contact with a monkeypox patient or their contaminated materials, they said.
"We continue to call on China to be transparent in sharing data and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results. Understanding how the pandemic began remains both a moral and scientific imperative," Ghebreyesus said.
India has so far reported nine cases of monkeypox, including one death.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.
It underlined that anyone can catch the virus if they have had prolonged or repeated contact with an infected individual.
The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune under the ICMR has isolated the monkeypox virus from the clinical specimen of a patient, which can pave the way for development of diagnostic kits and vaccines against the disease, officials said on Wednesday.
Over 150 people have already lost their lives in Mexico, the US and elsewhere, prompting the World Health Organisation to proclaim the flu as a 'public health emergency of international concern'. While the mad cow and bird flu could pass on from animals to humans through either direct contact with the diseased animals or on consumption of the under-cooked flesh of sick livestock, the swine flu virus A-H1N1 is easily transmittable from animals to humans and vice versa.
The man had attended a stag party recently in Manali in Himachal Pradesh.
Experts said the strain has not propelled a surge in cases like Omicron, but advised strict adherence to COVID-19-appropriate behaviour.
Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 5,806 confirmed cases, including 204 deaths, official media reported.
The Zika virus has already been found in some mosquitoes taken as samples from Sindhi Camp while few mosquitoes collected from densely populated Shastri Nagar had already been found to be carriers of the virus leading to suspicion they are behind the spread of the infection.
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