The Kerala government stepped up vigil to prevent the spread of monkeypox, issuing special alerts to five districts, a day after the southern state reported the country’s first case of the rare virus infection.

After chairing a high-level meeting here, state Health Minister Veena George said a special alert has been issued to five districts as people from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, and Kottayam were co-passengers of the infected person in the Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram Indigo flight that landed here on July 12.

There were 164 passengers and six cabin crew on board, the minister said and added that isolation facilities will be set up in all these districts.

The minister said 11 people who were in the seats next to him are on the high-risk contact list.

The parents of the patient, an auto driver, a taxi driver, and a dermatologist of a private hospital where the infected person sought treatment first and his 11 co-passengers who were sitting next to his seats on the flight are now on the primary contact list.