A health ministry spokesman said on Saturday that Indonesia had confirmed its first monkeypox infection, which was discovered in a person who had returned from an unidentified country with documented cases.
The 27-year-old male tested positive late Friday in Jakarta, according to Mohammad Syahril, who spoke at a news conference.
The Indonesian national, who is doing “fine” and has only mild symptoms, is self-isolating at home, according to Syahril, who did not specify where the patient was from.
“We have followed up with tracing of close contacts and will check up on them,” he said, adding that the government is in the process of acquiring 10,000 monkeypox vaccines.
The health ministry is urging people to remain calm and has assured them that monkeypox is treatable. So far, it has tested 22 suspected cases from across the country, and all have come back negative.
Singapore reported its first local case of monkeypox last month, with 15 confirmed cases as of August 5. Cases have also been confirmed in the Philippines and Thailand in Southeast Asia.
With over 40,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox, including a handful of deaths, in over 80 countries where the virus is not endemic, the World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency.
