The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, has confirmed three cases of monkeypox virus from the 13 suspected cases reported from Bayelsa State in September.
Professor Adewole who announced this on Monday at a press conference in Abuja said the confirmation was the final report from the analysis of the samples which were taken to the World Health Organisation laboratory in Dakar, Senegal.
He also confirmed that four results from the 43 suspected cases reported from other states including Lagos, Akwa Ibom, and Ekiti states were negative.
Similarly, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, called for calm among citizens.
Ihekweazu noted that so far, there are no confirmed cases of the virus outside Bayelsa State.
This comes less than one week after the Federal Government said the reported cases of the disease in some parts of the country were suspicion unless confirmed after laboratory tests.
The Minister had on Wednesday last week, after the Federal Executive Council, blamed state governments for the slow response to outbreaks of diseases.