Kazakhstan’s major airports expect mpox

Emergency exercises to prepare for potential mpox (monkeypox) cases have taken place in Almaty and Astana airports. These exercises focused on identifying symptoms, hospitalizing and executing disinfection procedures.

«The purpose of the exercises is to develop smooth cooperation between critical services, including sanitary and epidemiological units, border and customs services, airport departments, transit police, first-aid stations, ambulance services and medical organizations. We place special emphasis on coordination of actions when detecting an infected passenger,» the Ministry of Healthcare explained.

The exercises featured a designated mpox-infected person. 

«The personnel were trained on the entire process, from detecting the passenger’s symptoms to hospitalizing them and implementing all required epidemic control and disinfection measures. All services demonstrated high readiness and effective cooperation, indicating they are well prepared for potential threats,» the agency assured.

The context. The infection broke out once again in Africa in August. Authorities claimed that the region is at risk of an epidemic. The local healthcare agency reported 500 deaths from the virus. Three days later, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency following a significant mpox outbreak.