Thirteen African countries have reported 6,883 monkeypox cases since the beginning of 2022, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) disclosed on Thursday.
Based on the data released by the Africa CDC, 173 deaths and a case fatality ratio of 2.5 percent have also been registered during the same period.
The continental health agency noted that out of the 6,883 cases, 5,992 are suspected cases while 891 are confirmed cases.
The monkeypox cases were reported from eight endemic and five non-endemic countries.
The eight endemic countries are Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria.
The five non-endemic countries are Egypt, Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa and Sudan, according to the Africa CDC.
Following the announcement by the World Health Organization that declared monkeypox a global public health emergency of international concern in July this year, the Africa CDC has been calling on African countries to strengthen laboratory diagnostic capacities and genomic sequencing capacity for monkeypox.
MG/as/APA