Guidelines issued to check monkeypox

LAHORE:On the directions of Chief Minister Punjab, Hamza Shehbaz, Health Department in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other stakeholders has issued guidelines to the all departments and the institutions concerned vis-à-vis monkeypox.

Talking to media, members of Punjab Assembly, Khawaja Salman Rafique and Khawaja Imran said that no case of monkeypox was reported in Pakistan; however, precautionary measures had been taken by the government departments and in this regard diagnostic test lab facility had also been provided in the BSL-3 Lab of Institute of Public Health (IPH).

Prof Dr Sobia Qazi said that symptoms of smallpox and chickenpox were very similar with the viral disease monkeypox; therefore, clinicians should get more information and orientation regarding the disease so that they could differentiate between the diseases.