After a few cases of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) infection were reported in India, the Centre has asked states to enhance surveillance for respiratory illnesses, including influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), and spread awareness about prevention of hMPV.

Union Health Secretary held a meeting

Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava chaired a digital meeting with the states and union territories on Monday. In the meeting, the Health Secretary took stock of respiratory diseases, HMPV cases in the country and preparations to deal with them.

A Health Ministry statement said that the meeting was attended by Secretary, Department of Health Research, Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director General of Health Services, Dr Atul Goel, experts from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Institute of Virology (NIV) and state surveillance units of IDSP.

This is a relief news

HMPV is known globally as a respiratory syncytial virus. It is an infectious pathogen that can cause respiratory infections in people of any age group. The Health Ministry statement said that during the meeting it was reiterated that the IDSP data did not indicate any unusual increase in ILI and SARI cases anywhere in the country.

The Union Health Secretary emphasised that there is no need for people to panic as HMPV has been present globally for more than two decades. He advised the states to strengthen and review ILI/SARI surveillance, the statement said.

People should keep these things in mind

States were also advised to enhance information, communication and awareness among people about prevention of virus infection such as frequent washing of hands with soap and water, not touching eyes, nose or mouth with dirty hands, avoiding close contact with symptomatic people and covering mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing, etc. Shrivastava reiterated that respiratory diseases usually see a rise in the winter months and the country is fully prepared to deal with any possible increase in such cases.

Two new cases have been reported in Maharashtra, seven cases in the country so far

On Tuesday, two suspected cases of HMPV were reported in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Seven and 14 year old children were found infected with HMPV. A senior official said that both the patients were discharged after treatment. The official said that samples of both the infected have been sent to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Nagpur and the National Institute of Virology in Pune. On Monday, two more cases of HMPV were confirmed in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and one in Gujarat.