PESHAWAR: Health authorities on Sunday declared Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province mpox-free, saying all four patients infected with the virus had recovered from it.
Health officials had confirmed four cases of the viral infection last month, all of whom had a travel history, according to Atta Ullah Khan, a spokesperson of the provincial health department.
All of the infected individuals were screened at the Peshawar airport. Three of them were shifted to the isolation ward of Police Services Hospital in Peshawar, while one was quarantined at his home in the Mardan district.
“PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests of the patients were sent to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad and the results of all the individuals came negative,” Khan told Arab News, adding the result of the PCR test of the last patient quarantined at his Mardan home came negative on Sunday.
“Currently, there are no active mpox cases in the province.”
Patients who contract mpox get flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Mpox is usually mild but can kill, and children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of complications from the infection.
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.
Khan said provincial health authorities had managed to limit the spread of mpox in a short period of time.
“But screening at entry points, including Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar and the Torkham border crossing, still continues,” he added.
Authorities declare northwestern Pakistani province mpox-free after all patients recover
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Authorities declare northwestern Pakistani province mpox-free after all patients recover
- Health officials had confirmed four cases of the viral infection in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last month, all of whom had travel history
- All of the infected individuals were screened at the Peshawar airport and test results of the last patient came negative on Sunday
Gunmen kill 3 Revolutionary Guards in Iranian province bordering Pakistan
- Iranian state media says attackers ambushed patrol in Sistan and Baluchistan province before fleeing
- Border region with Pakistan and Afghanistan has long seen militant and smuggling-related violence
TEHRAN: Gunmen killed three members of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan near the Pakistan border, state media reported.
The Guard members were ambushed while patrolling near the city of Lar in a mountainous area about 1,125 kilometers (700 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.
IRNA did not report whether any Guard members were injured in the attack.
The Revolutionary Guard is pursing the attackers it calls “terrorists,” but they remain at large. No group has taken responsibility for the attack, IRNA reported.
The province bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, one of the least developed in Iran, has been the site of occasional deadly clashes involving militant groups, armed drug smugglers and Iranian security forces.
In August, Iran’s security forces killed 13 militants in three separate operations in the province a week after the group killed five policemen who were on patrol.
