Mozambique Number of confirmed mpox cases rises to 13

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Mozambique Number of confirmed mpox cases rises to 13

2:56 CAT | 21 Jul 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Notícias]

Seven new confirmed cases were reported in Lago district, Niassa province.

Mozambican health authorities yesterday confirmed seven more positive cases of mpox in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 13, all in the northern province of Niassa, in addition to 36 suspected cases.

The latest daily bulletin on the disease’s evolution, released on Sunday by the National Directorate of Public Health and with data from July 11th to 19th, states that, in addition to the accumulated 13 positive cases, there are 15 cases in isolation.

The seven new cases, recorded in the previous 24 hours, were also confirmed in Lago district of Niassa. No new suspected cases were recorded in the same period, and the bulletin indicates that there have to date been no deaths recorded in this outbreak in Mozambique.

The Mozambican government confirmed on Tuesday that the confirmed cases of mpox originated in neighbouring Malawi, where the outbreak has already affected around fifty people.

“These are three nationals [so far] who travelled between Malawi and Mozambique,” said the spokesperson for the Council of Ministers, Inocêncio Impissa, at the end of the cabinet meeting in Beira, Sofala province.

He also stated that the authorities have the situation “under control” and have taken measures to prevent the disease from spreading beyond the border district to other parts of the country.

“What the country [Mozambique] has done is quarantine them, so that they can be monitored in isolation and prevent them from spreading the disease. The health sector is vigilant and is creating conditions to ensure that cases do not leave the district of Lago [Niassa] and spread to Mozambicans,” Impissa said.

The Ministry of Health previously stated that the confirmed mpox patients “are clinically stable and are in home isolation, under monitoring by health authorities”.

A source at the Ministry of Health confirmed to Lusa that these are the first cases of mpox in Mozambique in the current outbreak, which is affecting several countries in the African region. They noted that, from January 1st to July 8th, 77,458 cases of the disease were reported in 22 countries, resulting in 501 deaths.

The first cases in the previous mpox outbreak in Mozambique were first recorded in 2022, in Maputo.

In the southern African region, which includes Mozambique, cases have previously been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Mpox is a zoonotic viral disease, first identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In August 2024, the World Health Organization declared mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern for the second time, due to the increase in the number of cases, deaths, and geographic spread, the Mozambican Ministry of Health has reported.

Source: Lusa