A man in St Thomas is now the latest person in Jamaica to contract the emerging monkey pox disease.
The Ministry of Health said it was a locally transmitted case.
Approximately 20 people are in quarantine over concerns they are contacts of persons infected with the monkeypox.
Jamaica has its first case of monkeypox, announced by the Ministry of Health and Wellness at an urgent digital press briefing on July 6.
On August 5, Jamaica confirmed its first locally transmitted Monkeypox virus case, bringing to three, the overall number of cases of the virus on the island.
“We have confirmed a third case of Monkeypox only a couple of hours ago,” Health and Wellness Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton said, adding that the patient “apparently contracted the virus from someone who had the virus here”.
Tufton stated that the new case “in essence changes the complexion of the task that we confront” during a ceremony marking the start of building on the Western Children & Adolescents Hospital in St. James, south of here.
“In this third case, the individual is being quarantined at home because their facility does allow for it and if the person is cooperative, this is what we will do with the cases, Tufton said, adding that the health ministry’s technical team is currently having a dialogue on the matter of local transmission of the disease that had been anticipated.
