Monkeypox breakout: NCOC issues guidelines as Africa declares emergency

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) has issued an alert to border health services following the rise in monkeypox cases worldwide and the outbreak of the Zika virus in India.

NCOC officials have said that travellers coming to Pakistan from abroad should be monitored, and suspected monkeypox patients should be quarantined in special wards.

According to NCOC, nine cases of monkeypox have been reported in Pakistan so far, out of which one has died. All monkeypox patients in Pakistan have come from Arab countries. However, the disease is not endemic in the country.

The NCOC also reported that more than 80 cases of Zika virus and several deaths have occurred in the Indian city of Pune. The mosquito that transmits the Zika virus is present in Pakistan and according to the Aga Khan University, the presence of the Zika virus was confirmed in Karachi in 2021 and 2022.

Emergency declared in Africa

Earlier, a state of emergency has been declared in Africa due to the threat of spread of monkeypox.

The African Union has declared the spread of monkeypox across the continent a public health emergency.

“It is with a heavy heart that we are declaring monkeypox a public health emergency of continental concern,” said Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since the beginning of this year, the virus has resulted in more than 511 deaths and more than 14,000 cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, last week described monkeypox as a “severe epidemic”.