First Case Of Zika Virus In UP, IAF Officer In Kanpur Tests Positive

Kanpur Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Nepal Singh said the officer has been suffering from fever for the past many days and was also admitted to the Air Force Hospital in the city, PTI reported.

New Delhi: As the nation continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur city on Sunday reported the first case of Zika virus.

This came to the fore after a warrant officer in the Indian Air Force (IAF) was diagnosed with it.

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Kanpur Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Nepal Singh said the officer has been suffering from fever for the past many days and was also admitted to the Air Force Hospital in the city, PTI reported.

He added the IAF officer’s blood sample was collected and was sent to Pune’s National Institute of Virology (NIV) after he began showing some mysterious symptoms.

The CMO further said the Zika virus positive report of the warrant officer was received by Kanpur authorities on Saturday, PTI reported.

He added that as many as 22 samples of the people the patient came in contact with have subsequently been sent to NIV for examination.

In order to contain the situation, the officials of health and civic bodies have been put on alert and several teams have been appointed to stop the spread of the Zika virus in Uttar Pradesh.

The case of Zika virus in Uttar Pradesh comes months after Kerala reported a same case.

Earlier on July 8, the first Zika case in Kerala was reported from Parassala in Thiruvananthapuram district after a 24-year-old pregnant woman tested positive for the virus.

Kerala has so far reported over 60 Zika virus cases.

Earlier in August, Maharashtra reported its first Zika virus case after a woman from Pune’s Purandar tehsil tested positive for the infection.