70 isolation rooms set up across six hospitals, 20 at LNJP to fight monkeypox in Delhi

New Delhi: Seventy isolation rooms have been set up across six hospitals in Delhi to tackle the monkeypox situation, officials said on Tuesday, hours after the national capital reported its third case of the viral disease.

Twenty of these rooms have been set up at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, the nodal centre for treatment of confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox, while 10 isolation rooms each have been established in five other hospitals in the city. These five hospitals include GTB Hospital, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, both run by the city government; and three private hospitals, namely Kailash Deepak Hospital, MD City Hospital and Batra Hospital, Tughlakabad, the official said.

The Delhi Deputy Chief Minister's Office in a statement on Tuesday said healthcare of Delhi residents is a "top priority of the Kejriwal government".

“The Delhi government is keeping an eye on the complete situation of monkeypox infection and has done all the preparations to fight back. Looking at the current situation, isolation rooms have been set up in three government and three private hospitals," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was quoted as saying in the statement. The AAP-led Delhi government has geared up to fight "even a potential monkeypox outbreak", and more isolation rooms will be added, if needed, he said.

A 35-year-old man of African origin with no recent history of foreign travel has tested positive for monkeypox in Delhi, making it the country's eighth case of the infection and the city's third, official sources said on Tuesday.

The man was admitted to the Delhi government-run LNJP Hospital on Monday, they said, adding that he is in a stable condition.