[File Photo]

The Health Ministry continues screening persons of interest and investigating cases that demonstrate symptoms similar to monkeypox.

Permanent Secretary Doctor James Fong says the ministry’s key focus will be ensuring that those suspected or confirmed to have monkeypox be managed dignifiedly with no threat of stigmatization.

He says the team is communicating with development partners to see if they can preposition access to vaccines and medications used to treat monkeypox.

Dr Fong adds that the ministry’s plan includes surveillance with rapid response and containment protocols.

There are also discussions with its reference laboratory in Melbourne to ensure access to definitive tests and that ongoing efforts to have genomic sequencing capability in which the Fiji CDC will provide greater capacity to deal with infection threats now and in the future.

The PS says as Fiji escalates its community-wide infection prevention and control measures, the health ministry is responding to current threats and creating community-wide resilience to upcoming threats.