At least 89 people, including 17 children, have tested positive for the Zika virus in Kanpur, India, according to the city’s health department. The mosquito-borne Zika virus, first discovered in 1947, reached epidemic proportions in Brazil in 2015, when thousands of newborns suffered from microcephaly, a disease characterised by unusually small heads and underdeveloped brains. 

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“There has been a surge in cases of the Zika virus infections and the health department has formed several teams to contain the spread,” Dr Nepal Singh, chief medical officer of Kanpur district in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters.

“There is one woman who is pregnant and we are paying special attention to her,” he added. 

Although cases have been reported in many Indian states in recent years, Uttar Pradesh’s top government bureaucrat for health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad, told Reuters that this was the state’s first outbreak. The first Zika case was reported on October 23 in Kanpur and the number of cases has risen in the last week.

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“People are testing positive because we are doing very aggressive contact tracing,” said Amit Prasad. 

Dr Anil Nigam, Chief Medical Superintendent, Ursala Hospital, told ANI, “Our team is inspecting regularly and municipal teams have also been deployed for fogging to destroy mosquito breeding points.”

Health officials have further asked people to be cautious amid the spread of the Zika virus. “Arrangements have been made in all hospitals for the treatment of infected people. The health of each patient is being monitored. Surveillance has been improved,” officials said.

“As Zika virus cases are rising in Kanpur, government hospitals across the city have sounded an alert and intensified surveillance under the infectious disease control campaign,” health officials told ANI.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has also directed officials to accelerate the sanitisation process. “Infection with the Zika virus is spreading rapidly in Kanpur. Considering the seriousness, special caution is required. Dengue testing should also be intensified. Arrangements should have been made in all hospitals. The health of each patient should be continuously monitored,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.