• PM orders tighter border screening, directs NCOC to remain vigilant
• Over 18,700 cases detected in Africa since January

ISLAMABAD: Health authorities informed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday that there is no evidence of local transmission of mpox in Pakistan and that a comprehensive strategy has been formulated to protect citizens from the disease.

During a meeting focu­sed on measures to prevent the spread of mpox, the prime minister instructed officials to implement rigorous screening procedures at all airports, seaports and border crossings. He also directed the Border Health Services to maintain comprehensive surveillance of the situation.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has been spre­a­ding in several countries, prompting the World Hea­lth Organisation (WHO) earlier this week to declare it a public health emergency of international concern — the agency’s highest alert.

PM Shehbaz ordered the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) to remain vigilant and assess the situation daily. He also called for the provision of all necessary equipment and kits to evaluate the mpox virus.

The meeting was atte­nded by the PM’s Coordi­na­tor on National Health Ser­v­i­ces Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bha­rath, Federal Secretary of Nat­ional Hea­lth Nadeem Mehbub, Nat­ional Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chair­man Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik, chief secretaries, the Islamabad chief commissioner, and other senior officials.

In a statement, the prime minister emphasised the im­p­ortance of strengthening coordination among the provincial governm­ents, as well as the adminis­trations of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kash­mir. He also directed the launch of a comprehensive public awar­eness campaign and hinted at receiving weekly briefings on the mpox situation.

During the meeting, officials informed the participants that a case of mpox had been detected in the Mardan district. The infected individual had recently returned from a Gulf country where he was employed. He was quarantined upon diagnosis and his condition was reported to be stable, the meeting was informed.

Officials assured the prime minister that no local transmission of mpox has been detected in Pakistan. Following the WHO’s declaration on Aug 14, the NCOC issued a national advisory and necessary instructions have been disseminated.

The federal and provincial governments, along with Islam­abad, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, have allocated isolation wards and designated hospital beds for potential mpox cases. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has been tasked with monitoring flights arriving from affected countries.

Later, the prime minister’s coordinator on health, Dr Mukhtar, told a press conference that PM Shehbaz had directed relevant authorities to take all possible steps to prevent the virus from spreading.

Dr Mukhtar noted that only one mpox case had been reported in Pakistan, with the patient originally visiting the hospital for an unrelated condition but was later diagnosed with mpox. He added that mpox symptoms typically appear within four to 10 days and often include a skin rash.

He advised passengers arriving from countries with mpox cases to remain vigilant and seek medical attention if symptoms develop.

Cases in Africa

Meanwhile, the African Union health agency said on Saturday that a total of 18,737 suspected or confirmed cases of mpox have been reported in Africa since the beginning of the year, including 1,200 cases in one week alone.

The figure accounts for three strains of the virus, of which one is the new, more deadly and more transmissible Clade 1b, which prompted the WHO to declare an international health emergency.

To date, 3,101 confirmed and 15,636 suspected cases have been reported from 12 African Union member states, resulting in 541 deaths — a fatality rate of 2.89 per cent, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement.

The hardest hit country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the new Clade 1b strain was first detected in September 2023, has reported 1,005 cases (222 confirmed, 783 suspected) and 24 deaths in one week.

All 26 provinces in the DRC, home to some 100 million people, have reported cases.

Neighbouring Burundi reported 173 cases — 39 confirmed and 134 suspected — which marks a rise of 75pc in one week.

More cases have been reported since the beginning of the year than all of 2023, which saw a total of 14,383 cases, according to the Africa CDC.

The first cases of the mpox outside of Africa were recorded this week, in Sweden and Pakistan.

The WHO will soon publish its first recommendations by its emergency committee and, along with NGOs, has also called for the ramping up of vaccine production.

Mpox is a viral disease that can spread from animals to humans, but also human-to-human thro­ugh sexual or close physical contact. Symptoms include fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions. The Clade 1b causes skin eruptions all over the body, whereas previous variants caused localised lesions around the mouth, face or genitals.

The disease was first detected in humans in the DRC in 1970. The deadlier Clade 1 has been endemic in the Congo Basin in central Africa for decades.

With input from Agencies

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2024