Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican health authorities have confirmed two more positive cases of mpox in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to six, all in the northern province of Niassa, in addition to 23 suspected cases.
The National Directorate of Public Health released its latest daily bulletin on the evolution of the disease on Thursday, covering data from July 11 to 16. Alongside the total of six positive cases, the bulletin reports eight cases in isolation and 27 contacts “under follow-up” by the health authorities.
In the last 24 hours, health authorities recorded two new confirmed cases – also in the district of Lago, Niassa – and added three more suspected cases of the disease, located in Niassa and the province of Tete.
The bulletin reports that this outbreak of mpox in Mozambique has caused no deaths so far.
Mozambique’s government confirmed on Tuesday that the confirmed cases of mpox originated in neighbouring Malawi, where the outbreak has already affected around 50 people.
“These are three Mozambican citizens [the fourth case was confirmed today] who travelled from Malawi to Mozambique,” said Council of Ministers spokesman Inocêncio Impissa at the end of the council’s meeting in Beira, Sofala province.
He also stated that the authorities have the situation “under control” and have taken measures to contain the disease within the border district, preventing it from spreading to other parts of the country.
“What the country [Mozambique] has done is to place them in quarantine so that they can be monitored in isolation and keep the disease from spreading.” The health sector is on alert and creating conditions to contain cases within the district of Lago [Niassa] and protect other Mozambicans,” said Impissa.
The Ministry of Health previously stated that patients confirmed with mpox “are clinically stable and in home isolation, under the supervision of health authorities.”
A source from the Ministry of Health confirmed to Lusa that these are the first cases of mpox in Mozambique during the current outbreak affecting several countries in the African region. The source recalled that from January 1 to July 8, authorities reported 77,458 cases of the disease in 22 countries, resulting in 501 deaths.
Authorities first recorded the initial cases of mpox in the previous outbreak in Mozambique in 2022, in Maputo.
In the southern African region, which includes Mozambique, authorities have previously reported cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Experts first identified mpox, a zoonotic viral disease, in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In August 2024, the World Health Organisation declared mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern for the second time, highlighting the increase in the number of cases, deaths and geographical spread, according to the Mozambican Ministry of Health.
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