Indonesia confirms first monkeypox case

Indonesia confirms first monkeypox case

JAKARTA, 20th August, 2022 (WAM) — Indonesia has confirmed its first monkeypox infection, detected in a person who had returned from an unidentified country with documented cases, a health ministry spokesman said on Saturday.

The 27-year-old male tested positive in the capital Jakarta late on Friday, Reuters quoted Mohammad Syahril as say at a news conference.

The Indonesian national, who is doing “well” and showing only mild symptoms, is self isolating at home, said Syahril, who did not say where the patient had come from.

“We have followed up with tracing of close contacts and will check up on them,” he said, adding the government is in the process of procuring around 10,000 vaccines for monkeypox.

The World Health Organisation has declared a global health emergency, with more than 40,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox, including a handful of deaths, in over 80 countries where the virus is not endemic.