PCCA directs airlines to take measures against Mpox

Karachi: The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) on Sunday issued directives to all airlines flying into the country to implement preventive measures against monkeypox, following the first confirmed case of the virus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa earlier this week.

A new strain of monkeypox, which appears to spread more easily through close contact, has raised global alarms. The variant was first identified outside Africa on August 15 in Sweden, linked to an ongoing outbreak on the continent.

In response to the potential threat, the PCAA has mandated that airlines arriving from abroad provide masks to passengers and require all airline and ground staff to wear them. The authority also instructed airlines to ensure that staff and passengers regularly sanitize their hands, and that luggage is properly disinfected.

Passengers displaying symptoms of monkeypox should be isolated immediately, according to the new guidelines.
In related news, a health officer from Mardan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa revealed that the location of the confirmed monkeypox patient, a man recently returned from Saudi Arabia, remains unknown.