The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has recorded a total of 39 confirmed cases of monkeypox across 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with no deaths.
The Director General of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, made this known at a press briefing on the declaration of monkeypox as a public health emergency of international concern on Thursday.
Idris said the NCDC was redoubling surveillance across Nigeria to swiftly detect and respond to any new cases.
He added that the NCDC as well as port health services across all five international airports, 10 seaports, and 51 land and foot crossing borders are on high alert.
According to him, some states have also been put on high alert, including Lagos, Enugu, Kano, Rivers, Cross-River, Akwa-Ibom, Adamawa, Taraba and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Newspot recalls that the World Health Organization, WHO, on Wednesday declared the mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency, worried by the increase in cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the spread to nearby countries.
WHO called a meeting of experts to study the outbreak and make a recommendation to the UN health agency’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that, in its view, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice. This is something that should concern us all.
“WHO is committed in the days and weeks ahead to coordinate the global response, working closely with each of the affected countries, and leveraging our on-the-ground presence to prevent transmission, treat those infected, and save lives,” Tedros told a press conference.
The decision comes after the African Union’s health watchdog declared its own public health emergency over the growing outbreak.
Mpox has swept through the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus formerly called monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970, and spread to other countries.
Tedros said the more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths reported so far this year in DR Congo have already exceeded last year’s total.
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