The health department in Canadian province of Quebec on Tuesday May 24, confirmed 15 cases of monkeypox.
Canada’s federal health minister also disclosed that more samples from other parts of the country were being sent to a laboratory in Winnipeg for testing.
Jean-Yves Duclos said;
“We expect more cases to be confirmed in the coming days.”
Duclos also disclosed that the federal government began “pre-positioning of the vaccine Imvamune and therapeutics from our National Emergency Strategic Stockpile in jurisdictions across the country.” A small shipment of the Imvamune vaccine was sent to Quebec on Tuesday, he said.
“I want to reiterate to Canadians that this is a different situation than we saw ourselves in with the emergence of COVID-19,” Duclos added, noting that unlike the coronavirus pandemic, Canada has a supply of vaccines on hand already.
The North American country confirmed its first two cases of monkeypox virus infections in the country last week after authorities in Quebec said they were investigating 17 suspected cases.
Nearly 20 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported recent outbreaks of the viral disease, with more than 230 confirmed or suspected infections mostly in Europe.
