Cyprus on alert for monkeypox – 10 suspected cases examined

Cyprus on alert for monkey pox

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The hospitals of the State Health Services Organization are in full readiness to deal with possible cases of monkey pox in Cyprus, assured on Monday, the Minister of Health, Michalis Hatzipantela, who said that at the General Hospital of Nicosia, which was designated as the reference hospital, there are ten beds available, which can accommodate potential incidents.

In an emergency meeting he called after the decision of the World Health Organization to declare the monkey pox disease as a public health emergency, Mr. Hatzipandela had the opportunity to see the state of preparedness of the hospitals, in case of a smallpox outbreak of monkeys.

The meeting was held in the presence of OKYpY doctors, who are responsible for the management of monkeypox incidents.

On the part of OKYpY, the action plan, which was established in collaboration with the Medical Services, to deal with monkey pox has been presented to the Minister of Health. It is noted that the specific action plan is based on the tripartite triage, transport and hospitalization of suspicious cases.

Speaking after the conference, Michalis Hatzipantela said that since Thursday afternoon they received information from the WHO "it raised an alarm in the Ministry of Health".

He explained that with his colleagues at OKYpY they saw in detail the whole process from the first moment, when there will be a suspicious case.

He said that all the procedures have been evaluated, what will be done after the detection of a suspected case, where the laboratory tests will be carried out, as well as where the hospitalization will take place.

"We have seen all this, it is recorded. Our other hospitals have also communicated them. I am satisfied with this plan and we will continuously evaluate it. And if we need to improve it, that will be something we will look at at a later stage," he said.

He expressed his thanks to his colleagues, at the same time expressing the readiness of his Ministry for the "new pandemic", which has been plaguing the world in recent days.

When asked if they will expect more guidelines and if there is a possibility that something additional will be incorporated into the existing plan, Mr. Hadjipantela said that "we received these procedures last night and they have been given to all our partners today during the meeting . Some recommendations from these guidelines, which have been sent last night, we will implement immediately."

Regarding the available beds, he said that initially they will start with ten beds, in the reference hospital.

Regarding the arrival of the vaccines, Mr. Hatzipantela said that there will be an update today on when they will arrive in Cyprus.

He noted that "an attempt is being made to send vaccines to the countries that have several confirmed cases, but we will know the exact day of arrival today".

The General Executive Director of OKYpY, Kypros Stavridis, said that the Organization has presented to the Minister of Health the action plan of OKypY, which was established in cooperation with the Medical Services to deal with monkey pox.

According to Cyprus Stavridis "the action plan has already been implemented, after the identification of ten suspected cases of monkey pox, which after being tested were negative, and has shown successful signs of writing".

The Specialist Pathologist-Infectious and Coordinator of the Epidemiological Surveillance and Control of Infectious Diseases Unit of the Nicosia General Hospital, Linos Hatzihannas, said that since May they have been called to manage 10 suspicious cases, noting that they have carried out the examination for monkey pox in all of them and everything was negative.

"We have been on standby since May," he said, "to handle any suspected or confirmed incident that reaches our services."

The course of cases continues to decline from COVID-19

Asked about the epidemiological picture of the weekend in relation to COVID-19, the responsible Minister reported that "the weekend went smoothly", to note that a reduction in hospitalizations has been recorded.

Specifically, he said that at the moment there are 98 hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19, to note that on Saturday the cases were 989 among 9.838 tests and on Sunday 537 among 8.389 tests.

He expressed optimism, saying that "all the waves of the disease we have dealt with exceptionally well".

Source: KYPE