• WHO has provided testing kits
• Kits to be handed over to two Govt. institutions to carry out testing

The Ministry of Health says testing will commence from today to identify if persons infected with Monkeypox are present in the country. 

Ministry of Health Medical Technology Services Director Dr. Anwar Hamdani confirmed that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has provided the Ministry with test kits for that purpose.

He said the test kits will be handed over to the Borella Medical Testing Institute and the Kandy Teaching Hospital today. Sri Lanka is yet to report a case of Monkeypox in the country. 

The WHO on 23 July declared the Monkeypox disease situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), a designation meant to mobilise the global community to take coordinated measures to control the spread of this disease and protect communities.

At the time of declaring it a public health emergency, the WHO had determined that the global risk of monkeypox was moderate everywhere with the exception of the European region, where the risk was high. 

The first case of Monkeypox in the South-East Asia Region was reported from India on 13 July from a Middle East returnee. In the South-East Asia Region, four cases of Monkeypox have been reported to date, three from India and one from Thailand. Monkeypox is a rare disease that is rarely fatal. 

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