KZN on high alert for monkeypox - Simelane
Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane has reassured people in KZN that her department's been placed on high alert as countries abroad deal with more than 200 cases of the monkeypox virus.
Visitors and cargo entering the province from these countries are being screened.
She says KZN's communicable disease surveillance and control systems have been activated to deal with any eventuality.
"The director-general at national level wrote about two days ago to all the stakeholders indicating that at this point there are no cases in South Africa, but the health system is quite ready for it."
Simelane was speaking on the sidelines of an engagement programme in Durban on Thursday.
READ: No lockdown on the cards as SA bids to stave off monkeypox
"If we should find ourselves faced with such a situation and we have to isolate cases, we certainly have enough isolation beds for that as you would remember, we created a lot of isolation beds at the beginning of Covid-19.
"It is very easy for us to revert back to isolation beds in the different facilities."
The European Union says it's working on centralising purchases of vaccines and treatments for monkeypox.
The number of cases worldwide has reached 219 - with countries including Britain, Spain and Portugal reporting infections.
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