ANKARA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye has so far detected 11 monkeypox cases in total, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Tuesday.
"It is not a disease to be feared for Türkiye ... Monkeypox is a disease that is transmitted by staying in the same environment for a longer period of time," Koca was quoted by semi-official Anadolu Agency as saying.
The monkeypox virus poses neither a pandemic nor an endemic for Türkiye, he noted.
Monkeypox, which was usually known to be endemic in parts of Africa, is spreading in several European and North American countries. Its symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches and exhaustion.
Elaborating on the COVID-19 cases in Türkiye, Koca said the recent wave reached its peak three to four weeks ago and the daily infections have already dropped to 10,000.
But there might be a new wave of infections between November and December, Koca warned. ■