The Health Ministry has said that, until now, there have been no positive cases of monkeypox in Indonesia, despite suspected cases having been identified.
There have been 10 suspected cases of monkeypox, but all of them have eventually returned negative. The latest, based on the results of laboratory tests on a suspect in Central Java, showed negative results.
The Director General of Disease Prevention and Control at the Health Ministry, Maxi Rei Rondonuwu, said that these negative results were based on an examination of the skin lesions of suspected monkeypox cases and examination of an oropharynx swab.
“Indonesia has zero monkeypox cases,” said Rondonuwu.
Previously, the spokesperson for the Health Ministry, Mohammad Syahril, announced that there were nine suspected cases of monkeypox in Indonesia, plus one suspected case in Central Java totalling up to 10 cases.
Monkeypox is a disease caused by the monkeypox virus infection. It causes sufferers to experience an acute rash such as papules (protruding pimples), vesicles, or pustules (pus-filled pimples) that cannot be explained in non-endemic countries or countries other than Africa.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared monkeypox to be a global health emergency because it had spread very quickly outside endemic areas with more than 75 countries reporting over 25,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide.