The Ministry of Health of Chili decreed this Friday a national health alert after confirming that six cases of monkeypox have been detected for a week; most in Santiago.
“What we want to do today is inform the public that we have declared a health alert for monkeypox or monkeypox, understanding the health alert as a strategy for reinforcement, to have more tools and be able to respond to these cases,” Begoña announced. Yarza, Minister of Health.
The health alert will allow the strengthening of the health system to prevent, detect and treat new infections of this disease through the use of economic resources, more personnel and health residences.
On June 17, the authorities confirmed the detection in the country of the first case of monkeypox and after a week “We have six confirmed cases in Chile”said, for his part, Cristóbal Cuadrado, undersecretary of Public Health.
The authorities announced that every Friday the population will be informed of an epidemiological report on the progress of the disease outbreak in Chile, where all the cases that have been confirmed to date and general epidemiological elements will be found.
Minister Yarza ruled out the closure of borders. “This measure is an alert, but it is not an alarm. Chile has a health system that is capable of suspecting, is capable of diagnosing, isolating and monitoring. The reassurance to people that we are within a health system that is capable of doing all of these things and taking the appropriate action.”
The cases of monkeypox in Chile are added to the more than 3,200 that have already been detected globally, as reported on Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO) who called for vigilance and transparency.
The WHO brought together international experts to determine whether or not the situation constitutes a “public health emergency of international scope”, as is the case with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Known in humans since 1970, monkeypox or “simian orthopoxvirus” is a disease considered rare and less dangerous and contagious than smallpox, eradicated in 1980 worldwide.
In Chile, smallpox was eradicated in 1959.