KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 – The Ministry of Health (MOH) has denounced fake news about monkeypox supposedly spreading to Malaysia after a Nigerian was confirmed with the virus in Singapore.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah pointed out that according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the latest monkeypox case was reported in Singapore last May 9, the first case reported in Asia.
“Singapore’s Health Ministry did not report about any Malaysian being a contact in that monkeypox case,” Dr Noor Hisham said in a statement today.
“Singapore’s Health Ministry has taken tight prevention and control measures to reduce the risk of the spread of the virus, including a quarantine on 23 people who had a history of close contact with the case to monitor their health status,” he added.
He also stressed that human-to-human transmission of the monkeypox virus was minimal, as the virus was mainly spread to humans through animal bites or through close contact with the blood, bodily fluids, or lesions of an infected animal.
Monkeypox was primarily reported in Central and West Africa since 2005.
“MOH wants to stress again that no case of monkeypox has been detected or reported in Malaysia,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
The monkeypox patient in Singapore is a 38-year-old Nigerian who had allegedly consumed bushmeat in Nigeria.
