Centre has dispatched team of experts after over 110 cases of autoimmune disease were recorded in and around Pune. One person has died and more than 15 are on ventilator support.
At least 67 cases have been recorded, most of them in Pune district, of which 13 patients are on ventilator support. Several of the patients in their 30s.
The current outbreak has been raging since early this year in Africa. Over 17,000 Mpox Clade 1 cases have been reported, with just over 500 fatalities.
The humanitarian crisis in Congo has displaced millions, which increases the risk of the infection spreading to other African countries that are ill-prepared to contain an outbreak.
The lack of resources to test and track the OROV virus through comprehensive surveillance systems severely hampers efforts to accurately monitor outbreaks.
Uganda's Ebola outbreak has been blunted by the absence of a proven vaccine against the Sudan strain of the virus. Vaccines against the more common Zaire strain are effective.
The central government has asked Kerala to submit a report on its two confirmed cases of norovirus. Kerala recorded its first outbreak of norovirus in June 2021.
Beyond the coronavirus pandemic, India is often at the cusp of outbreaks such as encephalitis or measles. A bankrupt WHO will leave India without best global practices.
China informed WHO on 31 December, but there is evidence that the coronavirus had spread among humans as far back as mid-October. Yet, WHO showed no urgency.
The Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 are innovative, but they still fall short of comprehensibly dealing with outbreaks.
The collusion between the new class of bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen and trade union bosses perpetuates itself partly because of the short-run benefits and partly because they see no way out of the system, wrote author MH Mody in 1980.
IAF is firming up plans to revamp airlift capabilities with medium transport aircraft that will be assembled in India & serve as its main workhorse. Embraer is leading contender as of now.
COMMENTS