A case of the new variant of mpox has been detected in Sweden (Picture: AFP or licensors)
The Philippines has recorded its first mpox case this year, the country’s health department has confirmed.
It is not yet known whether it is a strain of the Clade 1 variant responsible for the rapid spread but the 33-year-old male from Philippines had not travelled outside of the country.
Meanwhile, NHS staff have started to stockpile the mpox vaccine as cases of the virus spread across the world.
The Clade 1 mpox variant spreads faster and has a higher mortality rate in comparison to the milder version of the outbreak that was recorded in Europe, Australia, the US and many other countries in 2022.
This second, more deadly strain is now endemic in central Africa and is behind the recently discovered variant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Europe so far, mpox has spread to Sweden. Another case has since been reported in Pakistan.