Exclusive: Monkeypox tracker being developed to monitor rising cases

Health officials are working on creating a Covid-like monkeypox dashboard to track rising cases, The Telegraph understands.

The UKHSA is now putting out daily updates on case numbers via press releases to keep the public up to date with the rapidly evolving situation.

The Covid dashboard took several weeks to develop and launched after the emergence of coronavirus in Spring 2020 and has been an integral part of the nation’s pandemic response over more than two years.

With the technological snags now out of the way thanks to work on the Covid dashboard, the UKHSA would have a relatively simple task to imitate the product and launch a monkeypox equivalent.

It will likely mean a return to pedantic analysis of daily infection figures, with the dormant debates around infection time, hospital admissions, upward/downward trends and data collection likely to be reignited by professionals and amateur number sleuths alike.

There is no known time of completion for the monkeypox dashboard and its launch is dependent on the outbreak persisting.

The first monkeypox case was announced on May 7 and now there are 90 infections in the UK, with 85 in England, one in Wales, one in Northern Ireland and three in Scotland.

Official guidance is also expected over the next couple of days to better inform what people should be doing if they develop symptoms or believe themselves to have been exposed.

Currently, cases confirmed via PCR analysis are being quarantined, either at home or in specialist hospital infectious disease wards, and close contacts are being traced and offered a vaccine that can prevent disease if given a few days after exposure.

Britain has around 23,000 doses of the Bavarian Nordic Imvanex jab which is designed to fight smallpox but also works against monkeypox.

Full vaccination requires two doses four weeks apart and each dose costs around £5. It can modify infection if given straight after exposure but because monkeypox has a three week incubation period, by the time a person is symptomatic the jab is useless.

However, ring vaccination — inoculating close contacts of cases — can help halt the spread. Close contacts are also being asked to self-monitor and isolate for symptoms for three weeks.

People who think they may have monkeypox are being urged to be aware of any new and unusual rashes on their body and to ring their local sexual health service to arrange a test.

Health officials in the UK insist the risk to the general public remains low, and the World Health Organization is adamant that the outbreak can still be contained.

However, it has now been found in more than a dozen nations, with Spain, the UK and Portugal the most afflicted areas outside of Africa. This outbreak is the first time there has been sustained human-to-human transmission outside of Africa.

A “notable proportion” are in gay and bisexual men, health officials say, and this being urged to be particularly alert to any symptoms including lesions around and on the genitalia, as the viruscan be passed on via sex.

“If anyone suspects they might have rashes or lesions on any part of their body, particularly if they have recently had a new sexual partner, they should limit their contact with others and contact NHS 111 or their local sexual health service as soon as possible – though please phone ahead before attending in person,” Dr Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser at UKHSA said.