Health Minister Phaahla confirms 5 cases of Mpox in SA
Speaking during a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday morning, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said that only one fatality had been reported in the country.
FILE: Health Minister Joe Phaahla. Picture: GCIS
JOHANNESBURG - The National Health Department has reported five confirmed cases of Mpox (monkeypox) in parts of the country in the last month.
Two of the cases were recorded in Gauteng, while three more people tested positive in KwaZulu-Natal.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has labelled Africa as one of the hotspots for Mpox transmission amid a global outbreak of the disease.
Speaking during a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday morning, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said that only one fatality had been reported in the country.
"The death that occurred is amongst the two cases in Gauteng. This patient passed away late on Monday, the 10th of June, at Tembisa Hospital. All the patients are male, aged between 30 and 39, without travel history. So, this does say to us that there is local transmission."
“It’s not an infection which you can acquire simply by being in one room, unlike what we had with Covid and Influenza. There must have been contact on a skin to skin level.”
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) June 12, 2024
Phaahla urges the public to exercise caution as Monkey Pox spreads through physical contact @Alpha_Mero25 pic.twitter.com/Ao8kgpgrPm