Health dept begins mpox screening at Karachi airport

KARACHI: The Sindh health department has initiated screening of passengers at the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, and released an advisory for healthcare institutions in the province.

Sindh Health Department DG, accompanied by airport officials and director-health services, visited the airport to evaluate the screening protocols implemented for mpox, according to Dr Zafar Mehdi, focal person of Sindh health department at Jinnah airport.

The officials were briefed on the screening processes being implemented for the passengers arriving in Pakistan via international flights.

They examined the isolation room set up by the Border Health Services for the travellers showing potential symptoms, he said.

Pakistan’s health ministry has confirmed at least one case of the mpox virus in a patient who had returned from a Gulf country, it said on Friday, though they did not yet know the strain of the virus.

A health ministry spokesperson said the sequencing of the confirmed case was underway, and that it would not be clear which variant of mpox the patient had until the process was complete.

A new form of the virus has triggered global concern because it seems to spread more easily though routine close contact

A case of the new variant was confirmed on Thursday in Sweden and linked to a growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent.

However, the World Health Organization has advised against any travel restrictions to stop the spread of mpox.