JOHANNESBURG, June 6 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's National Department of Health on Thursday urged the public to be vigilant following the confirmation of two more monkeypox cases in the country's KwaZulu-Natal Province.
Foster Mohale, spokesperson for the department, urged citizens who have been in close contact with known or suspected patients of monkeypox disease, also known as Mpox, to go to their nearest health facility.
South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases detected two more cases of Mpox this week at two hospitals in Durban, the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal Province, according to the department.
"The preliminary case finding report has revealed that the two recent cases had contact with the other previously confirmed case in the province, and this suggests that there is a local transmission of the disease, which could potentially lead to a larger outbreak in the province," Mohale said.
Mohale noted that this development brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed Mpox cases in the country to four, with three in KwaZulu-Natal Province and one in Gauteng Province.
All confirmed cases are South African men in their mid to late 30s, according to the department.
Mpox is a rare viral infectious disease in humans caused by the monkeypox virus. The last time South Africa recorded a monkeypox case was in August 2022 when there were cases across the globe.
