Monkeypox patient escapes isolation at the May Pen Hospital

The traveller from the United Kingdom who was confirmed with the contagious monkeypox virus has fled the May Pen Hospital in Clarendon. 

Police and health authorities do not know his whereabouts. 

The man was under isolation.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton says the man jumped through a bathroom window on Saturday and left  in a car that was waiting for him.

The police visited his home but he was not found.

The car is being tracked. 

Tufton says the action was "premeditated and planned". 

He is reminding the public that the disease is contagious and to be on the look out.

He is urging persons not to harm the man.

"The solution is not to try to apprehend or engage in any confrontation with any individual having these symptoms. The best thing is to call the police or the parish health authority," he told The Star. 

Meanwhile, test results from a suspected case in St James have come back negative. 

Tufton advised the country on July 6 that the virus was detected in Jamaica. 

He said the man went to the public health system on July 5, having arrived on the island five days earlier from the United Kingdom.

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