PandemicPreparedness

Updated: September 2025

• Mpox
• Bird Flu
• COVID-19
• Pandemic Preparedness

Mpox

The first case was confirmed in July 2022.

Testing facilities are available across various cities at designated centers [PDF,286KB]. Suspected cases can also be reported online to IDSP.

Useful websites: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

Bird flu

H5N1 was first detected in birds in February 2006. Since then outbreaks in poultry and wild birds have been reported by local and international authorities.
H5N8 was detected in birds for the first time in 2016.
H5N1 was confirmed in at least three tigers and a leopard in late December 2024 at a zoo in Maharashtra.
H5N1 was confirmed in domestic cats for the first time in Chhindwara district, Madhya Pradesh in February 2025.

Human cases of bird flu

In January 2019, a human case of H9N2 bird flu was reported in India in January 2019. A young child was infected in the Melghat district of Maharashtra state. No other cases were detected following the child's infection.

In July 2021, a boy from Gurugram, Haryana state was confirmed infected with bird flu H5N1, the first in the country. This case was fatal.

A child from Australia, who travelled to Kolkata in February 2024, tested positive for H5N1.

In May 2024, the country's second case of H9N2 bird flu was reported from West Bengal state. The patient recovered and there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

COVID-19

The first case was reported in late January 2020.

See the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website for more updates.

Pandemic Preparedness

See the National Guidelines for Infection Prevention and Control in Healthcare Facilities, [PDF, 2,310 KB].