The Ghana Health Service says it has taken 13 people in the Upper East Region into quarantine.

This is after they came into contact with a soldier who died from the Monkeypox virus.

On Sunday, the Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Emmanuel Kofi Dzotsi who confirmed the death to JoyNews said it was the region’s first case.

In a press release, he indicated that “the confirmed case was seen on 22 July 2022 at the Upper East Regional Hospital with history of fever and skin rash.”

“Unfortunately, the case died on the 26th of July 2022. Samples were taken on July 22, 2022, for confirmation at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) in Accra. We received feedback on July 28, 2022, indicating the sample tested positive for Monkeypox disease.”

Following this, there had been concerns about the possibility of the disease spreading within the region as residents are unsure how the deceased contracted the virus.

But speaking to JoyNews, the Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Franklin Asiedu Bekoe said GHS has initiated a comprehensive response to the situation including the decision to quarantine all 13 persons identified during contact tracing.

"For now we have 39 confirmed cases in the country and a number of contacts but only three contacts have become cases.

Also, most of the cases we have gotten in Ghana are mild cases and some of them we applied herbal preparations and they go.

"I think that we should focus on the ability to prevent infections by avoiding contact with persons who are infected," he added.

Meanwhile, the monkeypox outbreak has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.

The classification is the highest alert that the WHO can issue and follows a worldwide upsurge in cases.

More than 16,000 cases have now been reported from 75 countries, said WHO director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

There are only two other health emergencies currently – the coronavirus pandemic and the continuing effort to eradicate polio.