Mozambique: Mpox patients escape from quarantine in Niassa

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Mozambique: Mpox patients escape from quarantine in Niassa

11:42 CAT | 12 Aug 2025

File photo: Rádio Moçambique

The Mozambican health authorities have announced that five patients who were diagnosed with the disease mpox (formerly known as monkey pox), in Lago district, in the northern province of Niassa, have escaped from quarantine and fled into neighbouring Tanzania.

According to Augusto Luave, the district director of Health, Women’s Affairs and Social Services in Lago, cited by Radio Mozambique, these five patients were Tanzanian nationals “and they decided to abandon treatment when they found out that they could move.”

Luave explained that the authorities are working to locate these patients so that they can remain in quarantine “to avoid further transmissions. We will also track those who had contact with them.”

Over the last 24 hours, according to the director, Niassa recorded four more positive cases of the disease. He also announced that 13 patients diagnosed with mpox are now free of the disease and “as a result of these recoveries, there are currently 14 patients in Lago who are still suffering from the disease and are currently under home quarantine.”

In order to avoid further cases of mpox transmission, the health authorities are continuing to call on people to avoid physical contact with infected patients or those with suspected symptoms, to wash their hands frequently, and not to share personal items such as clothes or towels.

Recently, the National Health Institute (INS) announced that there is no risk for mpox to become a pandemic. However, the government says that the country may receive vaccines against the disease in September as a preventive measure.

The last update on mpox, issued by the National Public Health Directorate, said that the country had 38 positive cases. Of these confirmed cases, 33 were in Niassa, two were in Manica province, and three were in Maputo province. The country has also registered 20 recovered cases.

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