DOH not recommending lockdown due to monkeypox cases
MANILA, Philippines — The imposition of movement restrictions would not be necessary following the detection of a monkeypox case in Iloilo, the Department of Health said.
“The DOH does not recommend lockdown due to the confirmation of a fourth case of monkeypox residing in Iloilo,” the DOH said in a statement Thursday evening.
The country’s fourth case of monkeypox has no travel history to or from a country with confirmed infections. Authorities are still tracing the other contacts of the fourth case to determine if there has been a local transmission of the virus.
“For now we cannot say 100% and with certainty that this is a local transmission because we have not established the facts yet,” Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, DOH officer-in-charge, said in a briefing Friday.
The agency also said the country’s preventive measures for monkeypox “will act as if such (local transmission) is happening.”
“[Local governments] are doing intensive surveillance. All people with suspected monkeypox are immediately investigated and tested. That is the key for us to prevent further transmission,” Vergeire said.
Hesitant
According to Vergeire, the country’s fourth monkeypox case is still undergoing isolation, but the patient is “continuously healing.”
She added the case is hesitant to provide more information after the patient’s photos were posted on social media.
The official asked media outlets and the public to preserve and respect the identity and the privacy of individuals infected with monkeypox.
The World Health Organization declared the surge in monkeypox infections outside the endemic African countries an international public health emergency on July 23.
According to the WHO, monkeypox spreads from person to person through close contact with someone who has a monkeypox rash, including through face-to-face, skin-to-skin, mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-skin contact, including sexual contact. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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