Jamaica confirms its first case of monkeypox

“Among other things our emergency operation centre has been activated. A review of all isolated facility is to be done to look at the capacity to manage both monkeypox and COVID-19,” he said.

A surge in monkeypox cases has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.

To date, more than 5,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 53 countries worldwide that don’t normally report the disease, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms of monkeypox include skin rash, fever, headache, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion and can last up to two to four weeks.