TheCable

Six fresh cases of the monkeypox virus have been confirmed, with one in the federal capital territory (FCT).

Osagie Ehanire, minister of state for health, disclosed this in Abuja on Friday.

Ehanire said apart from Abuja, there were two new cases of the disease in Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states and one in Enugu.

This brings the total number of confirmed monkeypox cases to nine.

He said investigations were ongoing to see if any of the new cases had a link with the Bayelsa cluster, where the outbreak started.

The minister said the new patients were already being managed by public health authorities and had been receiving appropriate clinical care since the onset of the illness.

He said the ministry of health, through the disease control office, was in contact with all state epidemiology teams, as well as the health facilities providing clinical care to both suspected and confirmed cases.

Ehanire added that the state commissioners of health had been advised to place all health care facilities and disease surveillance and notification officers on alert, to ensure early case detection, reporting and effective treatment.

He said no death had been recorded in the outbreak of the disease.