Monkeypox suspect undergoes test, report awaited: Karnataka Health minister K Sudhakar
Bengaluru, Aug 3: A Belgium national was tested for suspected monkeypox after he showed symptoms of the infection, Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said on Tuesday.
No monkeypox case has been reported in Karnataka so far. There were three suspects out of which two in Bengaluru have turned out negative. The third suspect, a Belgium national, found in Uttara Kannada district, was subjected to a test and his report is awaited," he said.
Sudhakar was talking to reporters after a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on monkeypox.
The health minister said there was no need to panic as the government is taking all precautionary measures including thermal screening at airports and strict surveillance in districts bordering Kerala.
"The WHO declared the monkeypox outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on July 22. About 20,000 cases have been reported in 80 countries across the world, he said.
Epidemic Diseases Hospital in Bengaluru and Wenlock hospital in Mangaluru are identified as designated hospitals for isolation of monkeypox suspects. Confirmed cases will be isolated and treated for 21 days until the rashes on skin are cured, the minister said.
Fever, rashes on skin, swelling of lymph nodes are common symptoms of monkeypox and our government has already issued a circular for mandatory thermal screening at airports and other entry points, Sudhakar said.
He said all district authorities have been alerted to take precautionary measures. Particularly, a strict vigil is kept on districts bordering Kerala, he added.
The minister, however, said monkeypox is not as contagious as Covid and it spreads only when a person is in prolonged contact with the infected person.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
