The Federal Government has announced that there are 74 suspected cases of monkeypox virus in 11 states in the country.
Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja.
The affected states according to the Minister include Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Lagos, Nasarawa, and Rivers as well as the FCT
He also faulted the rumour of military’s involvement in any vaccination exercise and regretted the growing panic which forced parents to withdraw their children from schools following the reported monkeypox vaccination.
The minister, however, said the Federal Government was making efforts to quell the frenzy created by the ongoing special military exercise in the South-south and South-east regions of the country.
According to him, the government is particularly worried about the reports, insisting that government will not conduct such campaigns without involving state governments.
Professor Adewole said vaccination campaigns were being conducted only in Kwara and Kogi states where there is an ongoing yellow fever vaccination campaign, and in Borno State where an outbreak of cholera was reported.
