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Join on Telegram Doha – A male patient who was admitted to the University Hospital of Ceuta with suspected monkeypox (mpox) has tested negative for the virus, medical sources confirmed to Ceuta Television.
The man, a citizen of Northern Europe who had been vacationing in Morocco, was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday.
The patient began exhibiting symptoms consistent with monkeypox while in northern Morocco last week.
The man was transferred across the Ceuta border on August 21 for medical care due to the principle of proximity to the European Union. This stipulates that if a national of an EU member state requires urgent hospital care, they are required to be transferred to the nearest facility.
The patient was taken directly to an isolation room colloquially known as the “Ebola room” at the Spanish hospital.
On Monday afternoon around 1:30 p.m., samples were taken from the patient by medical staff to be sent to the Carlos III Institute in Madrid for testing.
Later that evening, the patient was transferred from the custody floor to the Ebola floor. He was discharged within hours on Tuesday after his test results came back negative.
The EU has ruled out reinforcing borders or vaccinating the population against monkeypox at this time.
However, the Ceuta hospital took precautions, including preparing personal protective equipment for staff, repurposing a “COVID zone,” and arranging to send samples to Madrid for analysis.
In terms of mpox, INGESA, the national health management institute, has insisted “there is no case so far.”
The institution has pivoted between ambiguity and secrecy for years in terms of viral viruses, but sources say that whatever they intend to hide often ends up coming to light anyway, and there are times when saying nothing generates more social alarm than sepulchral silence.
No new mpox cases have been reported within Morocco itself for several months, according to the Moroccan Ministry of Health and Social Protection.
The country recorded just five cases during the less severe 2022 mpox outbreak and has so far been spared from the more virulent strain currently spreading in some African countries.
Moroccan health officials say they continue to closely monitor the international epidemiological situation.
Read also: WHO Assures Mpox is ‘Not the New COVID’ Despite Concerns Over New Strain
