ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: Pakistani health authorities confirmed a third mpox case in the country on Saturday, saying the patient, a resident of Peshawar, was diagnosed after the airport screening process following his return from another country.
Mpox causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. The World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries around the world to take precautionary measures after declaring the disease a public health emergency on August 14, as a new offshoot of the virus, first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo, began spreading to other neighboring states.
Pakistan also announced precautionary measures against the disease, putting airports and border entry points on alert and calling for strict monitoring to prevent the spread of the virus.
The government confirmed two mpox cases in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in recent weeks, saying these individuals had a travel history and emphasizing that there had been no reports of local transmission.
“Yesterday, two suspected cases of M-pox at Peshawar Airport were isolated by the Border Health Services staff,” the health ministry said in a statement. “Samples were sent to the Peshawar Reference Public Laboratory at Khyber Medical University for diagnosis. One of the two samples tested positive. The affected individual is from Peshawar.”
The ministry informed contact tracing and screening of the affected person were being conducted, adding that the patient’s travel history includes Gulf countries.
“Following the recent emergency, the number of M-pox cases in Pakistan has reached three,” the statement added.
The spokesperson for the Public Health Department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Atta Ullah Khan, said the patient was 51-year-old who was traveling abroad before returning to his country.
Khan said the patient arrived at the Peshawar Airport on Thursday where the medical team identified the symptoms.
“The Rapid Response Team took wound swabs from the patient at the Police Hospital and sent them to the laboratory and the results of the test returned from the National Institute of Health on Friday late night,” he told Arab News.
He informed the infected individual was subsequently transferred to the Police Services Hospital, where a six-bed ward has been allocated specifically for mpox patients.
Reacting to the development, Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Health Dr. Mukhtar Bhart said Pakistan had formulated an effective strategy for the prevention of mpox.
“Border Health Services staff at all airports are working diligently,” he maintained. “Pakistan’s surveillance system for monitoring diseases is strong worldwide.”
He noted the federal and provincial administrations were jointly ensuring effective measures for the prevention of the disease.
Bhart also said the ministry of health and its subordinate institutions were actively engaged in ensuring all preventive measures.
Pakistan confirms third mpox case in Peshawar resident after airport screening
https://arab.news/256gr
Pakistan confirms third mpox case in Peshawar resident after airport screening
- Medical team at Peshawar airport identified mpox symptoms in the 51-year-old patient before running the tests
- Health ministry says contact tracing is in progress as the patient has been moved to the Police Services Hospital
Pakistan offers Turkmenistan its Arabian Sea ports for wider access to ‘South Asia and beyond’
- PM Sharif meets Turkmen president in Ashgabat, calls for deeper trade and energy cooperation
- Islamabad cites Karachi and Gwadar as key to boosting regional connectivity, including TAPI links
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday urged Turkmenistan to expand trade and connectivity through Karachi and Gwadar, saying its Arabian Sea ports offer Turkmen businesses and exporters a direct route to South Asian and global markets, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said after high-level talks in Ashgabat.
Pakistan and Turkmenistan have long discussed regional transport corridors and energy cooperation, including the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) gas pipeline, a proposed multibillion-dollar project that would carry Turkmen natural gas south through Afghanistan into Pakistan and India. Islamabad has also pushed to link the landlocked Central Asian states to the sea by offering transit access through its deep-water ports, which sit at the crossroads of the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia.
On Thursday, Pakistan's Sharif met Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan, in Ashgabat as both countries look to revive momentum in bilateral engagement after years of regional instability. Pakistan has supported Turkmen neutrality policies at the United Nations, while Ashgabat has backed Pakistan during crises, including helping evacuate Pakistani nationals caught in Iran during the Iran–Israel conflict earlier this year.
“The Prime Minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to enhance connectivity with Turkmenistan through land and sea routes and said that Karachi and Gwadar ports were ideally located to be utilized by the Turkmen side to enhance their outreach to South Asia and beyond,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Sharif reiterated his intention to deepen trade and economic ties with Turkmenistan, saying enhanced transport links and energy cooperation could anchor long-term regional integration. He invited President Berdimuhamedow and Turkmenistan’s national leader, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, on official visits to Pakistan next year.
Sharif is on a two-day visit to Turkmenistan for the International Forum on Peace and Trust, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Energy Minister Awais Leghari, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and senior officials.
Turkmenistan’s president thanked Sharif for attending the UN-backed peace forum and said Ashgabat was keen to expand cooperation across multiple sectors, according to the statement.
