Home

Health Ministry to give an update on SA’s Monkeypox response

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, will on Friday morning give an update on government’s response to Monkeypox.

Earlier this week, South Africa recorded its fourth case of the disease, identified through laboratory testing on a 28-year-old male from the Western Cape.

The case follows three unlinked monkeypox cases reported from Gauteng, the Western Cape and Limpopo earlier this year.

The men aged 30, 32 and 42 years have since completed self-isolation and a monitoring period without further symptoms and health complications.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has since declared monkeypox a global health emergency.

The WHO label – a “public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)” – is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments.

The viral disease has been spreading chiefly in men who have sex with men in the recent outbreak, outside Africa where it is endemic.

Executive Director of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Professor Adrian Puren, says South Africans need not be alarmed by the cases that have been confirmed.

Professor Puren elaborates in the video below: 

Author

MOST READ