Minister of Health Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar
The monkeypox patient has been isolated at a fever hospitals, a Cabinet statement cited Abdel-Ghaffar as saying, without naming the hospital or its location.
In remarks to Ahram Online, health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar said the patient is not suffering from any severe symptoms and is in stable condition.
The ministry is taking a set of measures to enhance its preparedness against monkeypox, the minister said.
The international health regulations team at the ministry’s preventive medicine department is following up on all health developments on the international arena through the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) website, the minister said.
The ministry is also following up on international reference websites, he added.
The minister added that the rapid response team is being activated, which includes trained cadres from different departments. Moreover, the ministry has secured 1,800 test kits for detecting monkeypox, he added.
In May, the ministry issued a comprehensive guide on monkeypox, which is updated based on the global and regional developments and is distributed in all governorates across Egypt, the minister said.
The ministry is training the health affairs directorates on the guide and its updated versions, and is training infection control teams at major fever hospitals in the governorates, he said.
In recent weeks, monkeypox cases globally have fallen by more than a quarter, including by 55 percent in Europe, the Associated Press cited WHO as saying. Spain is one of the worst-hit countries with almost 7,000 confirmed cases.
According to Monkeypox Meter, more than 60,000 monkeypox cases have been reported worldwide in over 100 countries, including endemic countries, until 13 September.
In Africa, about 1,000 to 2,000 suspected monkeypox cases have been detected every year since 2000. So far this year, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified about 3,000 suspected infections, including more than 100 deaths.
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