Two suspected cases of Nipah virus have been detected in West Bengal, prompting a national outbreak response team to be deployed. The central government is providing full support to the state.
Health ministry advisory urges rational use of cough syrups in children after 11 deaths in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The NCDC has collected water and entomological drug samples from hospitals and other sites in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where multiple children have died of kidney failure following alleged consumption of contaminated cough syrup.
A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed in Madhya Pradesh to investigate the deaths of 14 children in Chhindwara, suspected to be linked to a toxic cough syrup. The investigation includes arrests, exhumations, and a ban on the implicated cough syrup.
Due to the rising COVID cases, the Centre is conducting mock drills to check facility-level preparedness and has instructed all states to ensure availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators, and essential medicines, official sources had said.
India's active Covid case tally crossed the 5,000 mark with Kerala remaining the most affected state followed by Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi, according to the Union health ministry data released on Friday.
As of May 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies LF.7 and NB.1.8 subvariants as Variants Under Monitoring, not as Variants of Concern or Variants of Interest. But these are the variants that are reportedly driving the rise in Covid cases in China and parts of Asia.
All states have been instructed to ensure availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators and essential medicines in view of rising cases of Covid, official sources said on Wednesday.
'It will be an explosion of zoonotic diseases from these places.' 'People will not be able to live or work for kilometres around these places where thousands of street dogs are kept.'
The Union Health Ministry refutes claims linking heart-related deaths to Covid vaccines, citing extensive studies by ICMR and AIIMS.
The Union health ministry has deputed a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Pune to aid state authorities in instituting interventions and managing the spurt in suspected and confirmed cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) in the city.
India has reported 59 cases of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) and two deaths due to co-morbidities between January 6 and 29, according to Union Minister Prataprao Jadhav. The virus primarily affects young children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals, leading to respiratory illnesses. The government has taken measures to monitor and control the spread of HMPV cases and create public awareness.
The state health department teams are conducting door-to-door surveillance in Badhal village, and the medical teams present in the district are monitoring the situation closely. The Medical experts have advised residents not to panic.
Authorities have sealed three houses belonging to the affected families and shifted 21 their close relatives to government accommodation to be kept under strict monitoring.
A series of deaths in a remote village in Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir, are not due to any disease, according to the Health Minister. Tests conducted by various institutions, including the ICMR, NCDC, and DRDE, have returned negative results. However, the minister has ordered an investigation into the deaths to determine the cause.
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the Union health ministry is closely monitoring respiratory and seasonal influenza cases in the country, and is in touch with international agencies, according to official sources.
India is closely monitoring cases of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV), but the Union Health Minister has assured the public there is no cause for worry. The virus, which is not new and has been circulating globally since 2001, has been detected in several states, including Karnataka, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu. The Health Ministry, ICMR, and NCDC are keeping a close watch on the situation in China and neighboring countries, and the WHO is expected to share a report on the matter shortly.
The ICMR's network of laboratories will take care of diagnostics and there is enough capability to step up the supply of diagnostic kits if required, they said.
The patient has been isolated at a designated hospital and is currently stable, it said, adding that there is no cause for concern.
It is important to note that neither of the patients have any history of international travel, the ministry underlined.
There are currently no reported cases of Monkeypox in India even though cautionary measures will be put in place to prevent and control the spread of the disease, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.
The unrelenting heatwave sweeping large parts of the country has claimed at least 110 lives and left over 40,000 people grappling with suspected heatstroke between March 1 and June 18 this year, health ministry sources said on Thursday.
The heat wave is likely to impact parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal, the Met office said.
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 45 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the punishing heat affecting health and livelihoods.
The threshold for a heat wave is met when the maximum temperature of a weather station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, 37 degrees in coastal areas, and 30 degrees in hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 notches.
The Union health ministry has also directed airport and port health officers to be vigilant, they said.
The ICMR-National Institute of Virology has been regularly undertaking studies to understand the protective efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against emerging variants.
A 39-year-old man tested positive for the Nipah virus, which was transmitted to him through direct contact with an infected person who died on August 30, State Health Minister Veena George said in Kozhikode on Friday.
The Centre on Sunday held a high-level review meeting after a 34-year-old man from the national capital with no history of foreign travel tested positive for the monkeypox virus, making it the fourth case of the disease reported in India.
A woman contact of an Omicron case in Rajasthan has been found COVID-19 positive in Delhi and is being shifted to the Lok Nayak Hospital, officials said on Friday.
The team will assist the state health authorities in instituting public health measures and facilitate operationalisation of requisite control and containment measures, it said.
State health minister Veena George said a meeting was held between the principal secretary of the health department and the Union health ministry earlier in the day and now the monoclonal antibody has arrived.
India has recorded its first two deaths due to seasonal influenza subtype H3N2, one each from Karnataka and Haryana, with the Union health ministry on Friday saying it is keeping a close watch on the situation and cases are expected to decline from the month-end.
Their samples have been sent to the National Centre for Disease Control for genome sequencing to ascertain if they have the new variant, Omicron, which has been classified as 'variant of concern' by the WHO.
Ninety-five per cent of samples from Delhi sequenced at the National Centre for Disease Control in the last six months were found infected with the Delta variant of the coronavirus, government data showed.
Ministry of health and family welfare adds Hong Kong and Israel to the list of countries from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in India, including post-arrival testing considering the detection of new COVID variant 'Omicron' in South Africa.
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium is closely tracking the new variant of COVID-19 called B.1.1.529 and its presence has not been detected in the country yet, officials said on Friday.
These nine states and union territories are Haryana, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.
According to sources, so far only one traveller from Canada having symptoms of monkeypox infection had been isolated.
They said after examining and analysing the adverse event reports, causal relationship and all related details shared by or to be shared by the WHO, the committee will advise and recommend further course of action to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
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