Monkeypox: Disease Control

(asked on 25th October 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department and the UK Health Security Agency are taking to help ensure that the UK is prepared for any potential future outbreak of monkeypox.


Answered by
Neil O'Brien Portrait
Neil O'Brien
This question was answered on 2nd November 2022

The Government is committed to controlling both the current and any potential future outbreaks of monkeypox. Led by UKHSA, we have been working with the four public health agencies of the UK to monitor the epidemiology, and, if the situation deteriorates, we will not hesitate to do what is needed to respond effectively.

UKHSA are continuously scanning for new potential outbreaks of monkeypox by conducting extensive diagnostic testing of suspected cases through UKHSA laboratories and some NHS laboratories, comprehensive contact tracing of close contacts of confirmed cases and genomic sequencing of confirmed cases to map and respond to new clades of the virus. Full details can be found of our response can be found at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/monkeypox-outbreak-technical-briefings/investigation-into-monkeypox-outbreak-in-england-technical-briefing-8#part-6genomic-surveillance.

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