Kisii — The Ministry of Health has assured that no cases of Monkeypox has been recorded in Kenya so far.
Speaking in Kisii on Wednesday, Principal Secretary Susan Mochache however stated that surveillance has been heightened in all points of entry in the country.
She further indicated that robust and proper response measures have been put in place in Kenya and the East Africa region.
“We have nothing to fear, we are going to use the same surveillance mechanisms we used during Covid19 to respond to the monkeypox outbreak. We have the capacity to test,” she stated.
More than 100 cases of the virus – which causes a rash and a fever – have been confirmed in Europe, the Americas and Australia.
That number is expected to rise still, but experts say the overall risk to the broader population is very low.
The virus is most common in remote parts of Central and West Africa.
The virus has now been detected in 16 countries outside Africa.
Despite being the largest outbreak outside of Africa in 50 years, monkeypox does not spread easily between people and experts say the threat is not comparable to the coronavirus pandemic.