Belgium becomes first country to introduce mandatory monkeypox quarantine

Belgium has become the first country to introduce a mandatory 21-day monkeypox quarantine – as 14 countries now confirm outbreaks of the viral disease and doctors warn of a ‘significant rise’ in cases in the Kingdom -United

Those who contract the virus will now have to self-isolate for three weeks, Belgian health authorities have announced, after three cases were recorded in the country.

The infections, which were first recorded on Friday, are all linked to a festival in the port city of Antwerp.

It comes as doctors have warned the UK is facing a ‘significant’ rise in infections and the government’s response is ‘essential’ to contain its spread.

Dr Claire Dewsnap, chair of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, also said the outbreak could have a “massive impact” on access to sexual health services in Britain.

Sajid Javid yesterday revealed that 11 more Britons had tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 20.

The cases include a British child currently in critical condition at a London hospital, while another 100 infections have been recorded in Europe.

Dr Dewsnap said Sky News: ‘Our answer is really critical here.

“There are going to be more diagnoses over the next week.

‘How much is hard to say. What worries me the most is that there are infections across Europe, so it has already spread.

“It is already circulating in the general population.

“To master all the contacts of these people is a huge job.

“That could be really big numbers over the next two or three weeks.”

She says she expects more cases to be identified in the UK, with a “significant increase over the next week”.

The rare viral infection, which people usually catch in the tropics of West and Central Africa, can be transmitted through very close contact with an infected person.

It is usually mild, with most patients recovering within weeks without treatment.

However, the disease can prove deadly, with the strain behind the current outbreak killing one in every 100 people infected.

The disease, which was first discovered in monkeys, can be passed from person to person through close physical contact – as well as sexual intercourse – and is caused by the monkeypox virus.

Dr Dewsnap also said she was concerned about the impact of monkeypox on the treatment of other infections as staff are diverted to fight the outbreak.

She added: “Some clinics that have had cases have had to advise people not to come in.

“They did this primarily because if someone has symptoms consistent with monkeypox, we don’t want people sitting in waiting rooms potentially infecting other people.

“They’ve set up a phone triage to all of these locations.”

Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said more and more cases of monkeypox are being detected daily.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday morning programme, Dr Hopkins said the UKHSA would release updated figures on Monday.

She said: “We’ll post updated numbers tomorrow – numbers for the weekend.”

“We are detecting more cases every day and I would like to thank all those people who come for testing at sexual health clinics, GPs and the emergency department.”

And asked to confirm reports that someone is being treated for monkeypox in intensive care, she said: ‘We do not confirm individual reports and individual patients.

In Britain, authorities are offering a smallpox vaccine to healthcare workers and others who may have been exposed.

Portugal has 14 confirmed cases and 20 suspected infections. And across the Atlantic, there are two confirmed cases in Canada, with 20 suspected cases.

There are also cases in Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Israel, Switzerland and Australia.

The World Health Organization has said it expects to identify more cases of monkeypox as it expands surveillance in countries where the disease is not usually present.

On Saturday, 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox were reported in 12 member states that are not endemic for the virus, the UN agency said, adding that it will provide guidance and recommendations in the coming days. countries on how to mitigate the spread of monkeypox.

No one has died from the viral disease to date.

Professor David Heymann, an expert in infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: ‘What seems to be happening now is that it has entered the population in a sexual form, in a genital form, and is spreading along with sexually transmitted infections, which has amplified its transmission around the world.

He said close contact was the main route of transmission, as typical lesions of the disease are highly contagious.

For example, parents caring for sick children are at risk, as are health care workers, which is why some countries have started vaccinating teams treating monkeypox patients with vaccines against monkeypox. smallpox, a related virus.

Many of the current cases were identified at sexual health clinics.

Early genomic sequencing of a handful of cases in Europe suggested similarity to the strain which spread to Britain, Israel and Singapore in a limited way in 2018.

Heymann said it was “biologically plausible” that the virus had circulated outside countries where it is endemic, but had not resulted in major outbreaks due to COVID-19 lockdowns, social distancing social and travel restrictions.

It comes as it emerged that some of the country’s top disease experts have warned monkeypox will fill the void left by smallpox three years ago.

Scientists from leading institutions including the University of Cambridge and the London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine have argued that the viral disease will evolve to fill the ‘niche’ left after the eradication of smallpox.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, experts attended a seminar in London in 2019 and discussed the need to develop “a new generation of vaccines and treatments”.

The seminar learned that since smallpox was eradicated in 1980, there was a halt in smallpox vaccinations and as a result up to 70% of the world’s population is no longer protected against smallpox.

This means that they are also no longer protected against other viruses of the same family such as monkeypox.