Mpox: One more case confirmed in Nakuru as Kenya's tally rises to 9

The Ministry of Health now says the number of Mpox cases in the country have risen to 9 after one more person contracted the disease in the last 24 hours.

Health Cabinet Secretary Dr. Deborah Barasa, in a statement to newsrooms, said the new case which was detected in Nakuru County is of a 37-year-old male truck driver who had travelled to Rwanda and Uganda.

The 9 confirmed cases presently are hence distributed across the following counties: Nakuru (2), Taita Tavern (I), Busia (I), Nairobi (I), Mombasa (I), Makueni (I), Kajiado (I), and Bungoma (I).

CS Barasa went ahead to not that the health ministry is yet to register any deaths among the cases confirmed so far.

“Our surveillance efforts remain robust, and the ministry has traced 68 contacts, 61 of whom have been monitored for the recommended 2I-day period, and the remaining 7 contacts are being monitored by our public health teams in the respective counties and Community Health Promotors (CHPs),” she stated.

"Only one of the contacts tested positive for Mpox during the monitoring period. Additionally, the Ministry continues to screen travellers at all Points of Entry (POEs). In the last 24 hours alone, 15,541 travellers were screened, raising the total of travellers screened across 26 POEs to 1,128,976.”

The Health CS further noted that the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) has received and tested 227 samples to date, with 9 confirmed positive, 211 testing negative, while another 7 are still being tested.