KARACHI: The Sindh Health Department has begun screening passengers at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport and issued an advisory for healthcare institutions across the province in response to the mpox virus.
A visit to the airport by the Sindh Health Department’s Director General, along with airport officials and the Director of Health Services, was conducted to assess the screening protocols for mpox. The officials were briefed on the procedures being followed for passengers arriving on international flights and inspected an isolation room established by Border Health Services for travelers displaying potential symptoms.
Pakistan’s health ministry confirmed at least one case of mpox in a patient who recently returned from a Gulf country. The specific strain of the virus is still unknown, with genome sequencing currently underway to identify the variant.
A new variant of the virus has raised global concerns due to its ease of transmission through routine close contact. On Thursday, a case of this variant was reported in Sweden and linked to a growing outbreak in Africa, marking the virus’s spread beyond the continent.
Despite these developments, the World Health Organization has advised against imposing any travel restrictions to curb the spread of mpox.
