Cape Town - All clear for South Africa, as the country discreetly puts a lid on the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox.
National Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale confirmed that all positive cases/patients identified in the country have been treated and have since recovered.
Presently, Mohale said there were no active cases in the country although the department remained vigilant.
“We are concerned about all pathogenic viruses and monitor them all,” Mohale said. “The number of monkeypox cases in South Africa remains unchanged at a total of five to date.”
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) will now only be releasing its situational report on monkeypox once every month.
Last month, the NICD said since August 17, no new cases had been confirmed. From June 22 to October 19, the country reported five unlinked confirmed cases and zero deaths.
Cases were reported from Limpopo (1), Gauteng (2), and the Western Cape (2). The NICD said there had been no reported secondary cases linked to any of the five confirmed cases.
The World Health Organization said that from January 2022 to October 18, 78 236 laboratory-confirmed cases, including 38 deaths, have been reported globally from around 109 WHO-member countries/territories.
Although WHO placed the global risk at moderate, the confirmation of one case of monkeypox in a country is considered an outbreak.
Monkeypox presents itself in the form of an acute rash or skin lesions, with one or more of the following: headache, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and muscle pain or body aches.