National –
Thailand has lowered its level of Monkeypox surveillance after the average patient rate has decreased to two patients per month.
Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, Director-General of the Department of Disease Control, revealed on Monday, September 19th, that the Public Health Ministry had established an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) following the WHO’s announcement, declaring Monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and the EOC had been monitoring the Monkeypox cases in Thailand since.
According to the global surveillance of Monkeypox, new infections around the world is decreasing significantly, from the highest in August of about 1,000 cases per day to an average of 580 per day in September.
In Thailand, a total of 8 Monkeypox infections were found during the past four months or an average of two patients per month. Most of them had a history of having multiple sexual partners. Three of them had a history of showing symptoms before returning to Thailand. The disease investigation among high-risk contacts of the infections also showed no further infection transmission.
Therefore, the EOC has lowered its level of the Monkeypox surveillance operation from the ministerial level to the department level. However, Dr. Opas stressed that Monkeypox is still a contagious disease that requires surveillance. When a suspect infection is found, the disease control department must conduct reports and investigations as they had done in the past.
“According to the analysis of the number of laboratory tests, it was found that there were patients who conducted the disease tests at the laboratories but their results were not reported to the Department of Disease Control. Therefore, we’d like to ask both public and private hospitals nationwide to report any suspected cases to actively and effectively intensify the surveillance process of the disease,” the Director-General concluded.
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