Monkeypox, or MPOX, is no longer a global health emergency, the World Health Organization declared Thursday after a nearly one-year-long alert for the disease that resulted in 87,000 confirmed cases in 111 countries, and 140 deaths recorded worldwide.
Brazil's Health Ministry has increased to 31 the number of laboratories nationwide equipped to corroborate if a patient's infection corresponds to monkeypox through the delivery of testing kits developed and produced by the Rio de Janeiro-based Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).
São Paulo's State Health Secretariat Wednesday confirmed the first death statewide of a patient suffering from monkeypox. The patient was a 26-year- old local male resident in South America's largest city, Agencia Brasil reported.
A patient at Santa Cruz de la Sierra's San Juan de Dios Hospital who was infected with monkeypox has died, thus becoming the first casualty with the malady in the country, it was announced Friday.
State Health authorities in Rio de Janeiro Monday confirmed the second local death of a monkeypox patient. It was a 31-year-old man who had been hospitalized for over a month.
Monkeypox has reached Tierra del Fuego and Magallanes Region in Chile. Tierra del Fuego province head of Epidemiology Office confirmed three cases in Ushuaia, one in Rio Grande and four more suspects. On the other side apparently a case has been reported in Puerto Natales, a woman who recently visited neighboring Argentina, while Chilean authorities announced that the country has enough vaccines to begin inoculation in October.
Health authorities have confirmed the 6th case of monkeypox in Uruguay after the initial detection dating back to late July, it was reported Wednesday. While another possible contagion is under study, 57 suspected cases have already been ruled out.
Argentine health authorities have confirmed the country has recorded a total of 221 cases of monkeypox until Sept. 7, a 30% increase from the previous week. The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the provinces of Buenos Aires and Córdoba account for 96.4% of infections.
Colombian health authorities Monday confirmed 938 people had been diagnosed with monkeypox nationwide, with the bulk of the cases being in Bogotá.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Friday told reporters that the recent decline in monkeypox cases in North America and Europe proved that shows that the current outbreak of the malady can be stopped.