Three new cases of monkeypox detected in the UAE

Three new cases of monkeypox have been detected in the UAE.

The country’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHaP) announced the additional cases almost a week after the country’s first infection of monkeypox was detected in a 29-year-old woman who had arrived from West Africa. This brings the country’s tally of confirmed monkeypox cases to four.

Read: First case of monkeypox detected in UAE

“Monkeypox is a viral disease, but usually a self-limited one, if compared to Covid-19. It’s mostly transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, including bodily fluids, and respiratory droplets, or with material contaminated with the virus. It can also be passed to the baby in the womb,” the ministry said in a statement.

#MoHAP_UAE announced 3 new cases of #monkeypox, in line with the UAE health authorities’ policy on the early detection and monitoring of the disease. We advise community members to follow preventive measures and careful precautions while traveling and during gatherings. pic.twitter.com/oNz8nUirM6

— وزارة الصحة ووقاية المجتمع – MOHAP UAE (@mohapuae) May 29, 2022

The ministry also urged all community members to follow preventive measures and precautions while travelling and to stay safer in large crowds and avoid risky behaviours. Moreover, the ministry affirmed that it is cooperating with other health authorities in implementing an epidemiological surveillance system to ensure community protection from communicable diseases and rapid detection, as well as work to limit the spread of all diseases and viruses, official news agency WAM reported.

“All health authorities in the country are committed to a unified national medical guide for dealing with monkeypox-infected people and their contacts. This includes complete isolation of the infected in hospitals until they recover, while quarantining their close contacts for a period of no less than 21 days at home and monitoring their health condition, and enforcing their compliance with home isolation.”

The ministry called for obtaining information from official sources in the UAE, and for refraining from spreading rumours and false information.