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After hitting Jaipur, the threat posed by Zika, a mosquito-borne disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, now looms large over Delhi.
Doctors and experts have warned saying that the virus might just reach Delhi anytime as many cases have already been reported from Jaipur.
The Central government sent a five-member team to Jaipur to review the situation and formulate a strategy to contain the outbreak of Zika virus in the Rajasthan capital after eight more persons, including three pregnant women, tested positive for the infection.
An elderly woman was diagnosed with Zika infection in the last week of September in the first such case in Jaipur.
The central team includes P Ravindran, director, emergency medical responder at the Health Ministry, Sujeet Kumr Singh, director of National Centre for Disease Control and Ashutosh Biswas from All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Delhi.
Zika is a mosquito-borne disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes.
According to the World Health Organization's classification scheme on the prevalence of Zika virus, India is in category 2, indicating ongoing transmission of the virus.
Since September 25, when the first case of Zika virus infection was reported, around 10,000 families in Shastri Nagar of Jaipur and neighbouring areas have been screened, the official said.
Samples of the eight persons were sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune, which confirmed the presence of Zika virus.
People with Zika virus can have symptoms including mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache. These symptoms normally last for 2-7 days.
