Ministry Of Health: There Are 57 Confirmed Monkeypox Cases In Indonesia

MPox developments were followed online in Jakarta, Wednesday. (ANTARA/Sean Muhamad)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) recorded 57 confirmed cases of monkey pox or mpox in Indonesia as of November 22 2023.

"The total confirmed cases of mpox are 57 cases, 57 people," said the Director of Health Surveillance and Quarantine at the Ministry of Health, Achmad Farchanny, in a media briefing regarding the development of mpox which was followed online in Jakarta, Antara, Wednesday, November 23.

Farchanny detailed that the 57 cases consisted of 42 cases that occurred in DKI Jakarta, six cases in Banten, six cases in West Java, and one case in the Riau Islands.

Then, there are also 33 cases that have been declared cured, eight cases that are currently suspect, and 191 cases that are in the discarded or negative category.

"To date, 100 percent of the gender is male, we have not had any reported cases in women," he said.

Farchanny explained that all cases were dominated by sufferers aged 30-39 years with 24 cases, 25-29 years 17 cases, 18-24 years 13 cases, 40-49 years two cases, and one case aged over 50 years.

Furthermore, he stated that mpox cases were suffered by 35 people with male-like sexual orientation (MSM), 11 bisexual people, seven heterosexual people, and four people who were unknown.

"The average incubation period for confirmed cases is seven days, the symptoms that arise and are mostly complained of are skin lesions, fever and rashes," he said.

For this reason, Farchanny said that the Ministry of Health had made various efforts to deal with mpox cases that occurred in the community. One of them is by carrying out vaccinations which have been given to 495 people for the first dose.

"The first dose was completed on October 23, we started the second dose on November 21," he added.

Apart from that, his party also carried out various preventive efforts, such as carrying out various early awareness outreach to health workers and the public through the Health Service in a number of regions.

"Society needs to implement safe sexual relations practices, by limiting the number of sexual partners. This means that we also continuously encourage fidelity to one's partner, as well as implementing Clean and Healthy Living Behavior," he said.