Legislation was laid this week that will make monkeypox a notifiable infectious disease under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010.
This means all doctors in England are required to notify their local council or local Health Protection Team if they suspect a patient has monkeypox. Laboratories must also notify the UK Health Security Agency if the monkeypox virus is identified in a laboratory sample.
Wendi Shepherd, monkeypox incident director at UKHSA, said: “Rapid diagnosis and reporting is the key to interrupting transmission and containing any further spread of monkeypox. This new legislation will support us and our health partners to swiftly identify, treat and control the disease.
“It also supports us with the swift collection and analysis of data which enables us to detect possible outbreaks of the disease and trace close contacts rapidly, whilst offering vaccinations where appropriate to limit onward transmission."
The UKHSA has meanwhile detected 43 additional cases of monkeypox in England, one additional case in Scotland and one additional case in Wales, bringing the total number confirmed in the UK to 366 as of 9th June.
There are currently 348 confirmed cases in England, 12 in Scotland, 2 in Northern Ireland and 4 in Wales.
Anyone can get monkeypox, particularly if they have had close contact with an individual with symptoms.
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