A second person has succumbed to the Mpox outbreak in South Africa, according to the health minister. This is coming less than 24 hours after the country’s first death from the virus was announced.
The two deceased men, aged 37 and 38, were tested and reported to have died as a result of the virus, the health minister, Joe Phaahla said.
Phaahla also said that a total of six cases had now been recorded in the country so far in 2024- two in Gauteng, and four in KwaZulu-Natal and all has been classified as severe and required hospitalisation.
All infected men were aged between 30 to 39, and had not been to other countries who were experiencing an outbreak meaning that the disease was being transmitted locally.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral infection that is transmitted through close contact. The virus has been confirmed in over 100 countries since 2022 and the first human case was reported in DR Congo in 1970, and the disease still remains an endemic to this day.
