A 22-year-old man who died in Thrissur on Saturday had tested positive for monkeypox in the United Arab Emirates before returning to India, Kerala health minister Veena George said on Sunday, adding that a probe has been ordered into his death.
The minister said that the family of the Gulf returnee only handed over the positive monkeypox test after his death.
This could be India's first monkeypox death and fourth outside Africa.
The state govt will be able to confirm the infection only after getting tests results from the National Institute of Virology.
The man had returned to India on July 22 and was admitted to a hospital on July 27 after he developed fever.
Kerala Health Minister said that the government will probe how the man managed to suppress information about his positive test at the airport. She also said that they have already started quarantining his close contacts.
George said that the patient was young, did not suffer from any other illness or health problems and therefore, the health department was looking into the cause of his death.
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She said they will also be examining why there was delay in his hospitalisation after he arrived here from UAE on July 21.
"This particular variant of monkeypox is not as highly virulent or contagious like COVID-19, but it does spread. Comparatively, the mortality rate of this variant is low. Therefore, we will examine why the 22-year-old man died in this particular case as he had no other illness or health problems," the minister told media.