Philippines reports cases monkey pox first on Friday (29/7).
Local officials said patients infected with monkeypox had a history of traveling abroad.
Although not giving the gender of the patient, the official said the patient was 31 years old. The patient was confirmed positive for monkeypox after performing an RT-PCR test.
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“[Pasien dengan] this case had previously traveled to countries with documented cases of monkeypox. Ten close contacts were recorded, three of whom were from the same household. All have been advised to be quarantined and monitored by the department,” said Beverly Ho, acting deputy minister for the Ministry of Health.
The discovery of the case in the Philippines marks a week of announcements by the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency.
Since May, a spike in monkeypox cases has been reported in countries outside of West and Central Africa where the disease has long been endemic.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as of Wednesday there had been more than 18,000 cases in 78 countries. As many as 70 percent of them are European countries and 25 percent in America. Monkeypox was reported to have killed five people.
Although there have been confirmed positive for monkeypox, the Philippines is trying to prevent potential panic. Trixie Cruz-Angeles, press secretary to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said monkeypox was not like Covid-19.
“It’s not like Covid which can spread through the air very easily and can be fatal. It’s not very fatal,” said Cruz-Angeles.
Nevertheless, Ho said the Philippines was working with the US to secure the monkeypox vaccine.
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