KARACHI: The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) on Sunday directed authorities concerned to take precautionary measures against monkeypox at airports after a case of the contagious viral disease was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Because a new variant of the virus appears to spread more easily through close contact, it has sparked concern around the world. The first indication of the new variant’s global spread was a case confirmed in Sweden on August 15, which has been linked to a spreading outbreak in Africa.

In this context, the PCAA instructed all airlines to provide masks to their passengers. “Wearing masks is also mandatory for airline and ground handling staff,” it said.

The authority instructed airlines to ensure hand disinfection of staff and passengers and also to disinfect their luggage.

Passengers with symptoms of monkeypox should be isolated, it was said.

A health official in Mardan district of KP had said the whereabouts of the confirmed Mpox patient was unknown. The man had recently returned from Saudi Arabia, the official said.

He was initially examined and counseled at a hospital in Peshawar, said Dr. Javed Iqbal. Reutersbut later returned to his home in Mardan, a few hours away, and then went to another district.

“When we visited his house in Mardan, it was locked from the outside and his neighbours told us that the family had left after Dir,” said DHO Mardan.

“We contacted our colleagues at the Dir District Health Department, but they could not even trace him in Dir.”

The national health ministry said it was conducting contact tracing of the identified patient, who was from Mardan, and that surveillance at the airport would be strengthened with additional health personnel, the ministry said.

Sajid Shah, spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Health, said there was no confirmation of the new variant so far, but sequencing of the sample from the confirmed patient was underway.

“Once that is done, we will be able to say which tribe it is,” Shah said.