Wales' First Minister has said it is "a matter of time" before Monkeypox arrives in Wales. The first case was found in Scotland on Monday.
Mark Drakeford told Members of the Senedd in plenary that he had met with the deputy chief medical officer on Monday, May 23 along with the Welsh Government health minister, Eluned Morgan.
Mr Drakeford said: "He was very clear with us this was just a matter of time. Wales is not immune from a disease of this sort. We're in a fortunate position that with cases occurring in other parts of the UK we've been able to put our response in place in advance of cases coming to Wales and that is exactly what we were discussing yesterday".
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He said Public Health Wales and health boards to mobilise a response to cases "if and when they do arise in Wales".
He said: "When they do, the fact that cases may predominately arise one part of the population is no guarantee at all that they don't arise in other parts. Nobody should feel that they are inhibited from coming forward for the help they will need from what is, as we are told, a rare and not normally exceptionally serious condition but a very unpleasant and disturbing one. No-one should be prevented from coming forward to help by any of the way in which this may be poorly reported."
Confirmed monkeypox cases in the UK have more than doubled to 57. The figure, released by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), was an increase from the previously confirmed 20 cases.
A new theory has emerged about how the disease started spreading in several countries at the same time. Professor David Heymann, the World Health Organisation’s former assistant director-general for health security and environment, is reported to have said a leading theory was raves in Spain and Belgium. Intimate contact is said to be necessary to spread the virus.
There are 56 confirmed cases in England, and Scotland confirmed its first case on Monday. Northern Ireland’s Public Health Agency and Public Health Wales each said they have had no confirmed cases. You can read more about that here.
