Pakistan: Mpox cases touch four after another suspect spotted in Islamabad airport

“The 47-year-old suspect who arrived from a Gulf country was shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and admitted to the isolation ward. His sample has been sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test,” Pims focal person for mpox Dr Naseem Akhtar told Dawn.

Akhtar said the suspect worked as a labour in the Gulf.

She confirmed the condition of the patient is not serious and he is expected recover soon.

“We will start contact tracing once the sample is declared positive by NIH,” she said.

Pakistan has imposed strict monitoring in airports after mpox cases were detected in the country.

The country has so far registered four mpox cases.

The swift spread of a new virulent strain of the mpox virus across Africa triggered the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it once again a public health emergency of international concern last week.