China steps up checks for mpox as Asia goes on high alert after WHO warning
Countries across Asia are stepping up checks for mpox, with China announcing that it will begin screening travellers for symptoms of the virus after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a “global health emergency”.
Travellers walk with their suitcases at Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China, Apr 24, 2023. (File photo: Reuters/Tingshu Wang)
SINGAPORE: Countries across Asia are now on high alert for mpox, with China announcing that it will begin stepping up checks for the highly contagious disease after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a "global health emergency".
Previously known as "monkeypox", the highly infectious disease can spread quickly through close contact.
Symptoms include fever, headaches, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.
In an announcement on Friday, Chinese customs officials said all overseas arrivals would be screened for symptoms of the virus over the next six months. This will also apply to all aircraft and vessels, as well as containers and goods, arriving from mpox-affected places, officials said.
China in 2022 classified mpox as a Class B infectious disease, allowing officials to take emergency measures such as restricting gatherings, suspending work and school or sealing off areas when there is an outbreak of a disease.
Those "who have been in contact with mpox cases or display symptoms… should take the initiative to declare themselves to customs", read a statement by the General Administration of Customs.
This week, the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency for a second time in two years, following an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has since spread to neighbouring parts of Central and East Africa.
Hong Kong, which recorded 13 cases this year, said it would continue to "closely monitor" the situation and "enhance preventative measures" following WHO’s announcement.
"Members of the public are urged to heighten vigilance and avoid close physical contact with persons suspected of contracting mpox," officials said in a press release on Thursday, adding that high-risk groups have been advised to receive vaccinations, said the government in a press release.
Hong Kong’s Department of Health has also told doctors and hospitals to report suspected mpox cases for "prompt" epidemiological investigation and contact tracing, as well as issue travel health advice to travellers visiting Africa.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry issued a level-one health alert on Thursday, urging citizens travelling to or staying in seven African countries to exercise caution, NHK reported.
SOUTHEAST ASIA ON ALERT
According to figures released by the WHO, close to 100,000 confirmed cases have been reported since 2022, along with 208 deaths reported.
In 2022, caseloads across Asia were reported in countries like India, Japan and Singapore.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday said the immediate public health risk of the mpox outbreak in the country remains low and added that precautionary measures were in place.
"While there is (a) cross-border spread of a potentially more severe mpox Clade I in parts of Central and East Africa, the outbreak has thus far remained within the African continent, with no reported cases of Clade I exported out of the African continent," MOH said.
"To date, all mpox infections detected in Singapore have been the milder Clade II infections, mostly during the 2022-2023 global outbreak."
Ten mpox cases were detected in Singapore as of Jul 27 this year. There were 32 cases in 2023.
Neighbouring Malaysia, which has recorded nine mpox cases to date since the first detected infection in 2023, reported no new cases or deaths from the disease.
Elsewhere in the region, governments announced added precautions following the WHO announcement.
Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has also stepped up screenings of arriving passengers to prevent an mpox outbreak, the Bangkok Post reported.
Quoting a spokesman for Thailand’s Department of Disease Control, the mpox situation in the kingdom is "still under control". Thailand has so far reported 827 mpox cases, including 11 deaths, since January 2022.
Similarly, the Philippines’ Department of Health on Wednesday said their surveillance systems are on alert following WHO’s declaration, GMA network reported.
A Department of Health spokesman said the Philippines has reported nine mpox cases so far since 2022, with no new cases detected in the country since December last year.
