Centre Rushes Team to Maharashtra After State Reports First Case of Zika

The zika virus case was reported in Pune on Sunday.

As Maharashtra reports zika Virus case, centre rushes three member team to state.

(Photo: PTI)

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has rushed a multi-disciplinary team to Maharashtra to monitor a zika virus case reported in Pune. The team will assist the Uddhav Thackeray government in effective management in case of an outbreak amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier Kerala reported a few zika virus cases.

Maharashtra on Sunday, 31 July, reported its first-ever case of zika virus infection. On top of this, a 50-year-old woman from the Purandar area of Pune district tested positive for chikungunya, said health officials on Sunday.

The government has appealed to people to not panic and follow all precautions.

The first case of the zika virus prompted the Union Health Ministry to rush a three-member team. The team comprised a public health expert from the office of the regional director, Pune, a gynaecologist from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, and an entomologist from the National Institute of Malaria Research, ICMR, New Delhi.

The team of experts will take stock of the ground situation and assess whether the Union Health Ministry's Action Plan for zika Management is being implemented properly.

It will also recommend necessary public health interventions for the management of the zika virus situation.

Several cases of fever were reported from Belsar village in Purandar tehsil in the beginning of July. Out of five samples sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for testing, three tested positive for chikungunya.

Only Kerala had reported cases of zika virus infection this year till the Pune case came to the fore. Kerala currently has 63 cases of zika virus illness.

Aedes mosquitoes spread the zika virus. They are also carriers of dengue and chikungunya.