The PCAA directs all airlines to adopt preventive measures against monkeypox

• Airline staff, ground handling “must” wear masks.
• The Authority gives instructions for the disinfection of the hands of staff and passengers.
• Luggage must also be disinfected, the PCAA directs.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) on Sunday urged all airlines flying to Pakistan from abroad to take precautionary measures against monkeypox at airports as the country recorded its first case of the virus earlier this week. in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A new form of the virus has caused global concern because it appears to spread more easily through everyday close contact. A case of the new variant was confirmed on August 15 in Sweden and linked to a growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health authorities said on Friday that a case of mpox has been confirmed in the province, withdrawing an earlier statement that three mpox patients were detected there this week upon arrival from the United Arab Emirates.

KP health authorities said Geo News that two of the three previously reported cases of mpox were patients who contracted the disease last year, while one case was due to the recent strain of the virus worldwide.

Meanwhile, in a series of directives, the PCAA directed all airlines arriving from abroad to provide masks to their passengers. “Whereas, it has been made mandatory for airline staff and ground handling to wear masks,” it said.

The authority has instructed airlines to take care of disinfecting the hands of staff and passengers, while their luggage should also be disinfected.

Passengers showing symptoms of monkeypox should be isolated, he ordered.

A health officer in KP’s Mardan district said the location of the confirmed mpox patient, a man the officer said had recently returned from Saudi Arabia, was unknown.

He had initially received tests and counseling at a hospital in Peshawar, said Dr Javed Iqbal Reutersbut later he returned to his home a few hours away in Mardan and then went to another district.

“When we visited his house in Mardan, it was locked from outside and his neighbors told us that the family has left for Dir,” DHO Mardan said.

“We reached out to our health colleagues in the Deer area, but they have not been able to locate him in Deer either.”

The national health ministry had said it was conducting contact tracing of the patient it had identified, who it said was from Mardan. They were also strengthening airport surveillance and monitoring with additional health personnel, the ministry said.

Federal Health Ministry spokesperson Sajid Shah had said so far that they have not confirmed the new variant, but sequencing of the confirmed patient’s sample was underway.

“Once that’s done, we’ll be able to tell what strain it is,” Shah had said.