Monkeypox: Bangladesh issues alert at all ports

Bangladesh has issued an alert at all the air, land, sea ports in the country over monkeypox as cases have been found in some European countries.

The Directorate General of Health Services has issued the alert on Saturday.

Prof Ahmedul Kabir, additional director general of the DGHS, said: "We have alerted the airports through a letter from the Disease Control Department of the directorate.”

Any patient identified with the infection will be kept isolated at the infectious disease hospital in Dhaka, he added.

He further said: "We’re getting reads as it’s a highly communicable disease. We have prepared the Infectious Disease Hospital in Mohakhali to isolate the patients if any cases are found.”

Monkeypox was initially discovered in monkeys but human cases of the disease have also cropped up in Western and Middle African countries. Previous instances of the disease were only found in Africa.

So far, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, the US, Canada and Australia have reported monkeypox cases.