Lima, August 29 (RHC)-- Peruvian health authorities Monday reported 1,463 cases of monkeypox in 16 of the country's regions, while 812 patients had already been discharged, as Health Ministry officials were monitoring the close contacts of those infected.

Metropolitan Lima accounted for most cases (1181), with the rest scattered nationwide.

Meanwhile, Colombia's National Health Institute (INS) reported Monday 582 confirmed cases in Bogota and in 17 departments.

For the second straight week, the number of infections doubled in the country, where Bogota, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Cundinamarca, and Tolima were the regions most affected.

According to the INS, only 4% of the infections were imported cases, which proved transmission is already going on locally.

At the same time, Ecuador reached 51 cases of the disease after confirming 16 new cases, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) said Monday. Of the people infected, 42 are men and 9 women. 

Ecuador confirmed the first case of monkeypox in its territory on July 6 in a 30-year-old man in Guayaquil, the capital of the province of Guayas.

With Monday's new case, Uruguay has reached a total of 4 cases of monkeypox nationwide after 42 other suspected cases were ruled out.

Health Minister Daniel Salinas announced a few days ago that between 6,000 and 7,000 doses of third-generation inactivated virus vaccines would arrive between October and November.