Africa has contained monkey pox cases

JOHANNESBURG: Several outbreaks of monkey pox in Africa have been contained during the Covid-19 pandemic, and outbreaks in Europe and the US are a concern, Africa’s top public health agency said yesterday.

A handful of cases of the virus, which causes fever symptoms and a bumpy rash, have been reported in Britain, Portugal, Spain and the US. The disease, which spreads through close contact and was first found in monkeys, mostly occurs in west and central Africa.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said outbreaks had been contained in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic since 2020.