Zika Virus Spreads In Jaipur: 29 People Test Positive In India’s Biggest Outbreak So Far

Senior officials of Rajasthan’s Health Department said on Tuesday (9 October) that twenty-nine people have tested positive for Zika virus in Jaipur, the state’s capital.

In what is the biggest outbreak so far in India, the first case was reported on 23 September, following which tests established traces of the virus in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes on 26 September.

Denying laxity, Veenu Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Medical & Health and Family Welfare Department, Rajasthan informed that 150 to 200 teams, along with administrative officials, are combing the affected area of Shastri Nagar. She added, “More than 26,000 homes have been surveyed by officials with help of teams from the Health Department along with 29,000 breeding places for the mosquito that carries the virus.”

Seeking a comprehensive report from the Health Ministry on the Zika outbreak, the Prime Minister's Office has put a seven-member high-level central team in Jaipur to assist the state government in control and containment measures as reported by Indian Express.

Dr P Ravindran, director of Emergency Medical Relief under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the disease is non-fatal and is mostly treated with paracetamols.

In at least one case, a patient went outside Jaipur after being tested positive for Zika, increasing chances of the disease spreading to other parts of the state, officials said. To counter that, Veenu Gupta said that five laboratories had been set up in the state — in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jhalawar, Udaipur, and Kota — to test samples.