Alarmed at the undiagnosed fever claiming 15 lives in Gujarat’s Kutch, the Centre has set up a surveillance mechanism to immediately respond to such outbreaks and alerts have been issued at the points of entry such as airports, land ports and seaports to monitor the disease.

An effective surveillance mechanism through the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), IHIP network and also through the One Health Mission to immediately respond to any such outbreaks has been established.

According to the Gujarat Government as many as 48 new cases of fever had been detected in the affected villages of Lakhpat and Abdasa talukas. The deaths, which occurred between September 3 and 10, included four children.

To meet any emergency, 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, said sources in the Union Health Ministry.

Under the PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), the government has strengthened tertiary care across the country through AIIMS institutes, apart from bolstering emergency services through critical care blocks.

Also, sufficient medical oxygen is available for any such exigency, the sources added.

The Gujarat government has deployed specialist doctors and 50 medical teams in and around seven villages of two talukas in Kutch district after the outbreak of the undiagnosed fever.

Samples of the infected patients have been sent to the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) in Gandhinagar and at the National Institute of Virology in Pune to identify the exact cause of the fever and the subsequent deaths.