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The Department of Health has confirmed two new mpox cases.
This increases the total number of positive cases from 20 to 22 since the outbreak of mpox in May this year.
The number of fatalities remains at three.
Spokesperson for the department, Foster Mohale, says the two cases were reported in Durban and Nquthu in KwaZulu-Natal.
"The latest cases include a 40-year-old man diagnosed at a private health facility in Durban on Saturday last week. The patient is from Johannesburg but travelled to Durban over the past weekend where mpox-like rash developed.
"The other case is a 26-year-old man from Nquthu in KwaZulu-Natal who presented with mpox-like rash to a local hospital. Both new cases self-identified as MSM with no international, but local travel history."
Mohale says everyone who experiences any of the mpox symptoms with or without international travel history, is urged to present themselves to a health facility for clinical observation and confine themselves to one place until their test results are available.
"Contact tracing and monitoring is ongoing in both provinces, especially amongst the close contacts of the patients.
"We urge all the identified and suspected contacts to cooperate with health officials during contact tracing for screening and possible diagnosis to prevent further transmission of this preventable and treatable disease," concludes Mohale.
