“It’s only one case.”
Malacañang on Friday said monkeypox would not affect the entire Philippine population after the country recorded its first case of the disease.
In a Palace briefing, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said monkeypox was “of concern” but was not as contagious as Covid-19.
“First of all, it’s only one case, number one. Number two, as you can see, it doesn’t affect the entire population. Number three, this is not like Covid that can be spread by air very easily and could possibly be fatal,” she said.
“This is not particularly fatal, but it is of concern,” she added.
The Department of Health (DOH) announced the country’s first case of monkeypox on Friday: a 31-year-old Filipino who had been to countries with monkeypox cases.
The case has been discharged and 10 of his close contacts have been traced, all of whom are not exhibiting symptoms.
Cruz-Angeles said President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s concern was to “get the information out so that people will be aware.”
“So his primary concern was to get the information out so that people will be aware, but also to be aware that the systems of the DOH are in place and that this is not the same as Covid,” she said.
The World Health Organization on July 23 declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. John Ezekiel J. Hirro