Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla says one person has died from monkeypox disease in South Africa. He was briefing the media in Pretoria on Wednesday about the outbreak.
Three are in KwaZulu-Natal and two are in Gauteng.
New-born babies and pregnant women are at high risk. He says five cases have been reported in the country.
Phaahla says the illness can be severe, and lead to complications and even death in some people.
He says, “The death that occurred is amongst the two cases in Gauteng. This patient passed away on Monday this week, Monday the 10th of June in Tembisa Hospital. All cases and all the patients are males aged between 30 and 39 years without any travel history to other countries which are experiencing the outbreaks, So this then to us says that we do have local transmission.”
