Two babies have been diagnosed with the human metapneumovirus during a routine check-up at Bengaluru's Baptist Hospital and one infant in Ahmedabad but all three are well on their way to recovery, according to the government. The news, however, led to a sharp drop in the stock market, with Nifty losing 1.4% and Sensex falling over 1,100 points.
Two human metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases have been confirmed in Karnataka by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) through regular surveillance.
Bengaluru Baptist Hospital identified both cases as part of the ICMR's continuous national surveillance of respiratory diseases.
The first case included a 3-month-old girl who was admitted with bronchopneumonia and later diagnosed with HMPV; she was later discharged from the hospital.
On Jan 3, an 8-month-old boy with a history of bronchopneumonia tested positive for HMPV. This is the second case. The baby is doing well. Neither patient had ever traveled abroad before.
A 2-month-old boy from Rajasthan's Dungarpur was diagnosed with the virus in a Ahmedabad hospital, marking the third confirmed case of HMPV nationwide.
According to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the infant is in stable condition and remains isolated for monitoring.
HMPV is circulating throughout the world, including India. According to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and ICMR, there hasn't been an exceptional spike in instances of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) or Influenza-Like Illness (ILI).
The hospital reported the cases, and further testing confirmed the virus, according to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Health Commissioner Suralkar Vikas Kishore.
Viral load and dissemination will be evaluated through continuous surveillance. Using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which finds microbial RNA/DNA, the diagnosis was verified.
According to a top official in the Health and Family Welfare Department, thorough investigations are being conducted to determine the virus's impact.
Improved testing and control procedures will be used if required. There is no cause for concern, the Union Health Ministry assured the public.
India has asked the World Health Organization (WHO) for frequent updates on the worldwide HMPV situation, which it is actively monitoring.
The government has entrusted ICMR with ongoing trend monitoring and intends to increase the number of labs testing for HMPV as a precaution.
The Directorate General of Health Services conducted a Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) meeting to discuss the recent spike in respiratory illnesses in China, which is probably connected to the ongoing flu season.
At this time, influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and HMPV are common pathogens, and their presence is not rare, the meeting concluded.
There hasn't been an unusual increase in respiratory ailment cases recorded by hospitals throughout India.
India is ready to manage any possible rise in respiratory diseases, the ministry emphasized.
Meanwhile, stock markets reacted adversely after HMPV cases were found in India, with the Nifty losing over 1.4% and the Sensex dropping more than 1,100 points.
As a sell-off swept across mid- and small-cap stocks as well as a number of industries, including metals, PSU banks, and oil and gas, the India VIX, a measure of anxiety, surged by 13%.
While other significant equities, including Bank of Baroda, HPCL, BPCL, Tata Steel, and Adani Energy Solutions, suffered drops of 4-5%, shares of Union Bank of India fell 7%.
The stock market's decline was also accompanied by foreign institutional investor (FII) withdrawals, which in January had already reached around half a billion dollars.
With the dollar index at 109 and the yield on the 10-year US bond at 4.62%, Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, predicts that the market will continue to be impacted by unfavorable variables like FII flows and macroeconomic conditions.
"The market is likely to be influenced by the negative factors impacting FII flows and some positive domestic factors that can support the market,” Vijayakumar said.
“The external macro construct continues to be unfavorable with the dollar index at 109 and the 10-year US bond yield at 4.62%. The FIIs are likely to continue selling till the yields decline and the dollar stabilizes," he added.
Earlier, India’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has intensified surveillance of respiratory and influenza cases following unconfirmed reports of a potential HMPV outbreak in China.
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