Africa-Press – Mozambique. Maputo province recorded its first confirmed mpox case over the weekend, while Niassa reported 11 more infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 29.
On Sunday, Mozambique’s health authorities announced that the country recorded six more cases of mpox in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 29 positive cases in about three weeks, in addition to 170 suspected cases.
The latest daily bulletin released by the National Directorate of Public Health, with data from July 11th to August 2nd, states that the disease continues to be non-fatal, with no deaths recorded to date.
All six new mpox cases announced on Sunday and recorded in the previous 24 hours were confirmed in Niassa province, where the outbreak has so far been concentrated in Lago district. Three new suspected cases were also recorded during the same period in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Niassa, and Maputo, in addition to 45 contacts being monitored by health authorities.
These six new cases of mpox join six others confirmed on Saturday, including the first in Maputo province.
To date, health authorities have recorded 28 cases of mpox in Niassa and one in Maputo province.
Mozambican authorities announced last week an increase in border surveillance, with screening and testing teams, to curb the spread of mpox cases.
“There are currently no restrictions on the movement of people and goods. What we have been doing and recommend – and what we are working on together with other institutions – is strengthening surveillance in cross-border areas,” National Director of Public Health Quinhas Fernandes told a press conference in Maputo, where he also emphasized the commitment to community tracing as the best method to curb the spread.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy task. As you can see, our country has formal borders where we can place colleagues under surveillance, but it also has several entry and exit points that are often outside our control, and that’s a major challenge,” Fernandes added.
Health authorities say that Mozambique is well prepared to handle the outbreak, with capacity for 4,000 locally conducted tests, and only just over 150 so far used in this outbreak.
“We have good testing capacity,” Filipe Murimirgua, coordinator of the Public Health Emergency Operations Center (COESP), told Lusa. “Testing, at least in this country, is guaranteed.”
“Since this is an infectious disease, there is always a risk of spread, which is why all provinces are on alert and have also begun suspecting cases and testing,” Murimirgua added.
He acknowledged improvements in processes compared to the 2022 outbreak: “The country is better organized, especially regarding early case detection. [In the outbreak in Niassa] it was possible to detect cases with the collaboration of other neighbouring countries – Malawi, for example, which supported identification and reporting, which was very useful.”
Mpox is a zoonotic viral disease, first identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the current outbreak in southern Africa, since January 1st, 77,458 cases of the disease have been reported in 22 countries, with 501 deaths.
The first case of mpox in Mozambique occurred in October 2022, with a patient in Maputo. The coordinator of COESP, an agency of the National Directorate of Public Health, points to the testing capacity that now exists in the provinces, with 4,000 tests available and 1,000 for reagent analysis to identify strains of positive cases, as a major improvement in the three years.
Mozambique now has the capacity to test in all provincial capitals, through Public Health laboratories: “There is an enormous testing capacity. I would say that our capacity is still underutilized. All suspected cases are tested, and we are able to provide results in a timely manner,” Murimirgua reported.
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