In India, four cases have been reported from the states of Kerala, Telangana, and Delhi. Three out of the four affected individuals had a history of travel from the monkeypox-affected UAE. A 34-year-old man from Delhi was admitted to a state-run hospital designated for the management of monkeypox cases. Unlike the other cases, the patient from Delhi does not have any history of travel to countries with reported instances of monkeypox. This has alarmed health officials about the extent of the transmission of the infection.

Many experts have pointed out that the spread of the infection is mostly reported among gay and bisexual men. The Union Health Ministry has issued directives for the management of monkeypox to all states and UTs. The guidelines were issued to ensure that all the states and UTs are prepared to prevent and manage any potential crisis in May-end. In its guidelines, the ministry advised considering even one case of monkeypox as an outbreak, which should trigger a detailed investigation by the ‘rapid response teams’ initiated by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program. 

The guidelines have directed all states and UTs to report any suspected cases to the central surveillance units and health ministry. The guidelines included that a confirmed case is a laboratory-confirmed report of the monkeypox virus based on the presence of a unique viral DNA sequence in the test samples using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or sequencing methods.