Cape Verde has dismissed a travel alert issued by the US government over Zika virus, saying the concerns were overblown and that the number of cases of the virus in the country was on the decline.
The US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) extended its travel warning on Friday to a further eight countries, including Cape Verde, that pose a risk of infection with Zika, bringing the total number to 22.
Zika is a mosquito-borne virus spreading through the Caribbean and Latin America.
Only about 20 per cent of the infected cases display symptoms, which are usually mild and include fever, joint pain and conjunctivitis.
The CDC warns that it can also be spread from pregnant women to foetuses and has been linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and sometimes brain damage.
Jorge Barreto, the representative for Cape Verde’s National Directorate of Health, said the warning did not constitute a travel ban but was intended to persuade women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant to take precautions.
“The Ministry of Health believes that maybe there was a misunderstanding in the interpretation of the recommendation issued by the CDC,” said Barreto.
“We have seen a decrease in terms of notification of Zika cases. Last week we recorded 126 cases and the week before there were 212 cases.”
The Cape Verde government says it believes the virus was imported from Brazil.
