Mozambique currently has the capacity to carry out up to 500 daily screening tests for the new strain of mpox, the researcher and Head of the Department of Surveys and Health Surveillance at the National Health Institute (INS), José Paulo, said today.

"Our country already has a diagnostic capacity in place. It already has the capacity to test, confirm or not confirm suspected cases. We have the capacity to carry out 500 molecular tests a day", he said in an interview with Radio Mozambiquethis morning.

He assured that the INS is equipped with the personnel and technology to diagnose and interpret the results of suspected cases.

João Paulo explained that it is possible to detect cases of mpox throughout the country, thanks to the laboratories and equipment allocated to deal with the covid-19 pandemic.

The researcher clarified that the virus that causes mpox has an incubation time of between seven and 14 days, until symptoms appear. Diagnosis is made by collecting the patient's body fluids to identify the DNA of the virus that causes the disease. The disease doesn't seem to have a cure because, as he explained, its treatment focuses on the symptoms that accompany it. Being a self-limiting disease, it can simply disappear on its own in around four weeks. He noted that most of the deaths associated with the disease occur in people with low immunity.

Regarding the seven suspected cases in Mozambique, he said that six were chickenpox and one measles.

"Fortunately we don't have any confirmed cases in the country," he said, calling for suspected cases to be reported so that they can be treated in good time.