The UAE has recorded three new cases of monkeypox, the country's health ministry said.
The additional cases bring the country's tally of confirmed monkeypox infections to four.
The Emirates confirmed its first infection, in a 29-year-old woman from a West African country, about a week ago.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention has not revealed any details about the latest patients. However, it said it is taking “all necessary measures, including investigation, examination of contacts and monitoring their health”.
It urged all citizens and residents to follow “appropriate preventive measures and careful precautions while travelling and to stay safer in large crowds and avoid risky behaviours” to protect themselves against the virus.
“Monkeypox is a viral disease but usually a self-limited one, if compared to Covid-19,” said the ministry.
“It is mostly transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, including bodily fluids and respiratory droplets, or with material contaminated with the virus. It can also be passed to the baby in the womb.”
“All health authorities in the country are committed to a unified national medical guide for dealing with monkeypox-infected people and their contacts,” said the ministry.
“This includes complete isolation of the infected in hospitals until they recover, while quarantining their close contacts for a period of no less than 21 days at home and monitoring their health condition, and enforcing their compliance with home isolation.”
The ministry said people should obtain information from official sources and refrain from spreading rumours and false information.
Symptoms
Most monkeypox patients experience fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands. The lesions can spread to other parts of the body.
In general, recovery takes about two to four weeks without the need to be admitted to hospital. However, monkeypox can be fatal in up to 6 per cent of cases and is believed to be more severe in children.
Smallpox vaccines are effective against monkeypox and antiviral drugs are also being developed.
The World Health Organisation estimates there are thousands of monkeypox infections in about a dozen African countries every year.
Most are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which reports about 6,000 cases annually, and Nigeria, with about 3,000 cases a year.
