Cape Town - The National Department of Health has called for heightened Monkeypox awareness and protective measures after the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a global health emergency.
The declaration, made by WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday, is the highest alert that the organisation can issue. This follows the reporting of more than 16 000 cases from 75 countries and five deaths.
Ghebreyesus made the announcement after experts serving on the UN health agency’s emergency committee were unable to reach a consensus on whether the Monkeypox outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.
“I have decided that the global Monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern. The WHO's assessment is that the risk of Monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions, except in the European region, where we assess the risk as high. This is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups,” said Ghebreyesus.
South Africa has so far detected three cases since the global outbreak began.
Health department spokesperson, Foster Mohale said the department has been prepared with heightened screening and surveillance since the Covid- 19 pandemic.
“The same is used to detect cases quickly and successfully manage cases, especially at the ports entry. The last positive cases are only the three we announced in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Limpopo.
“The Johannesburg and Cape patients have some since completed their 21 isolation period together with their contacts, there were no reported serious complications. The last and recent one in Limpopo is... about to complete an isolation period,” said Mohale.
According to Mohale, the announcement by WHO’s Ghebreyesus means there is a need to intensify public awareness about the disease and encourage people to still use some of the prevention protocols used against Covid-19, including hand hygiene.
“There is no need to panic and this announcement has not mentioned travel bans, but this doesn't mean people should ignore preventative protocols to protect themselves against these diseases, now rather than later. We have learned lessons from Covid-19 and these will help us to manage the transmission of Monkeypox and other infectious diseases,” he said.
Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness spokesperson Mark van der Heever said their health surveillance and contact tracing was in place and alert to detect any new cases.
“We had one case where the person has since recovered. No other cases were detected through our contact tracing.”
Cape Times