Cape Town – The South African Department of Health has announced that Minister Joe Phaahla is expected to speak on the government’s response to Monkeypox on Friday, August 19.
This is after the department announced the fourth Monkeypox case in the country on Monday.
In a statement, the minister said the patient, a 28-year-old from the Western Cape was identified through laboratory testing.
“The patient has a travel history to Spain and returned to South Africa on the second week of August 2022. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was performed in a private pathology laboratory and the samples were submitted to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) for sequencing analysis,” said Phaahla.
[Statement] Health Minister Joe Phaahla has revealed that South Africa has recorded its fourth #monkeypox case. The patient has travel history to Spain and returned to South Africa on the second week of August 2022.
Read more: https://t.co/842pKD01AJ pic.twitter.com/JlEgDg8oE2
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) August 15, 2022
Meanwhile, public health response measures to prevent the spread of the infection, including contact tracing have been instituted, he said.
So far, two cases have been reported in the Western Cape, one from Gauteng and another from Limpopo.
According to the minister, the three other patients have completed their self-isolation and monitoring period without reporting any further symptoms and health complications.
The patients are all male aged 30, 32 and 42 years.
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Picture: Twitter/ @GovernmentZA
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
