Afghanistan to receive monkeypox test kits from WHO

Kabul: The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan announced that the World Health Organization (WHO) will provide monkeypox test kits to the the war-torn nation as the virus has been confirmed in 27 countries with nearly 800 cases.

According to officials from the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the Afghan health sector currently lacks kits to test for monkeypox, reports TOLO News.

"PCR machines were handed over to the MoPH during the outbreak of Covid-19 in Afghanistan. These machines cannot be used to test for monkeypox," said Javid Hazhir, a Ministry spokesman.

So far, Afghanistan has not reported any monkeypox cases.

In its latest report on Sunday, the WHO said the 780 laboratory confirmed cases of monkeypox from 27 countries represented an increase of 523 cases (+203 per cent) since May 29, when a total of 257 cases were reported.

However, there have been no deaths associated with the current monkeypox outbreak.

Monkeypox is a sylvatic zoonosis that may cause infections in humans and the disease usually occurs in forested parts of Central and West Africa.

It is caused by the monkeypox virus which belongs to the orthopoxvirus family, according to the WHO.