The Chinese regime will test all those arriving from abroad for monkeypox

All travelers entering China from abroad must undergo monkeypox testing separate from COVID-19, the official People’s Daily reported, citing a new disease prevention guide published by the National Commission of Health.

The institution required the different local authorities to test those arriving from abroad for monkeypox, especially those whose travel history includes countries in which cases of the disease have been detected in the 21 days prior to their entry into the country. China.

Likewise, “close monitoring” should be carried out on people who show symptoms such as rashes, and any suspected cases should be reported to disease prevention authorities for transfer to “designated medical institutions.”

Those who show these symptoms should undergo etiology tests to exclude those caused by other diseases such as chickenpox, rubella or measles.

The Commission also urged people who have been in contact with people infected with monkeypox to inform the authorities even if they have not developed any symptoms.

At the moment, China has not reported the detection in its territory of cases of monkeypox, which has already spread to fifty countries since the beginning of the year, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Most of the 3,413 infections confirmed in 2022 have been registered in Europe, with a special incidence in countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany or Spain.

In a statement issued this Friday, the regional director of the WHO in Europe, Hans Henri P. Kluge, indicated that almost 90% of the cases detected globally since mid-May are concentrated in that continent, where infections They have tripled in the last two weeks.

The WHO did not declare a public health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) has not so far classified this situation as a public health emergency of international concern, which is striking, especially after the mistaken experience it has had in delaying the declaration of a pandemic for COVID. -19 more than two years ago.

WHO officials have communicated this week that the global spread of monkeypox does not yet warrant declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The decision, announced on June 25, was made after two days of deliberation following an internal emergency committee of the global health entity.

The spread of the viral disease has caused alarm as many of the affected countries had not seen sustained transmission of monkeypox until this year. Although the WHO decided not to declare monkeypox a PHEIC, the highest level of alert the organization can make, it “recognized that the convening of the committee itself reflects growing concern about the international spread of monkeypox,” he explained. the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

(With information from EFE)

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