Abu Dhabi: The UAE Ministry of Health on Sunday announced that it had detected three new cases of monkeypox in the country, which has recently spread in several countries in the world, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
The UAE Ministry of Health and Community Protection did not provide additional information, but it reiterated that “monkeypox is a contagious viral disease, but the means of its spread are limited compared to the COVID-19 virus.”
The ministry stressed that the most prominent ways of transmission of infection from one person to another come “through contact with body fluids and respiratory droplets, contact with skin lesions of an infected person, and surfaces contaminated with infected fluids or through the placenta from the pregnant mother to her fetus.”
The UAE health authorities recommended that members of society follow all safety and health prevention measures, take preventive measures when travelling and gatherings, and avoid unsafe and unhealthy behaviours.
The ministry reassured that the health authorities in the UAE “are taking all necessary measures, including investigation, examination and follow-up of contacts, in addition to continuous and diligent work to ensure the health sector’s readiness to confront all epidemics and infectious diseases.”
It indicated that it adopts “a unified national guide for dealing with infected people and those in contact with monkeypox, which includes isolating the infected completely in hospitals until they recover, quarantining close contacts for a period of no less than 21 days at home, and monitoring their health condition.”
On Tuesday, May 24, the UAE Ministry of Health announced that it had detected the first case of monkeypox in the country.
UAE was the first country in the Gulf to announce the detection of the first case of monkeypox.
The case belongs to a 29-year-old woman, a visitor to the country from West Africa. The woman has been isolated and is receiving the necessary medical care in the country.
Monkeypox is usually a mildly infectious disease that is endemic in parts of West and Central Africa and is a rare virus similar to human smallpox.
As of Sunday, May 29, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that cases of the monkeypox virus had been reported from 23 non-endemic countries and a total of 257 lab-confirmed cases and 120 suspected cases have been reported.
