JAIPUR: Seven people were tested positive for Zika virus in Rajasthan's Jaipur following which the Prime Minister's Office sought a detailed report from the Union Health Ministry. A team from the ministry will visit Jaipur today to take stock of the situation.
One person was tested positive for Zika virus on September 24 following which 22 more samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for testing.
"The PMO has sought a comprehensive report on the Zika virus outbreak in Jaipur," a senior Health Ministry official said.
Bihar also issued advisories to all its 38 districts as one of the affected in Jaipur is from Bihar and had visited in home in Siwan recently. The Siwan resident, who studies in Jaipur, visited home between August 28 and September 12 to appear for an exam. His family members have been put under surveillance.
Sources in Rajasthan's health department said the seven people who have been tested positive have been kept in an isolation ward in Jaipur's SMS Hospital.
The first case was detected from Jaipur's Shastri Nagar area where medical teams have been deployed. 179 medical teams are working in six wards in the neighbourhood.
A seven-member high-level central team is already in Jaipur to assist the state government in containing the spread. A control room has been set up at the National Centre for Disease Control to undertake regular monitoring of the situation.
A mass drive to contain the spread of the infection has begun in Jaipur. Apart from fogging and spraying to control mosquitoes, authorities have surveyed over 6,000 houses in Jaipur and have treated over 2,000 containers with a chemical called temephos.
Zika virus disease is an emerging disease currently being reported by 86 countries worldwide.
Symptoms of Zika virus infection are similar to other viral infections such as dengue, and include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache.
In India, the first outbreak was reported in Ahmedabad in January and February 2017 and second outbreak in July, 2017 from Krishnagiri District in Tamil Nadu. Both these outbreaks were successfully contained through intensive surveillance and vector management, the ministry said.
The disease continues to be on the surveillance radars of the Union Health Ministry although it is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern under WHO notification since November 18, 2016.