A case of a new strain of mpox has been detected in the UK for the first time, it has been announced.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said a single case of the mpox virus variant Clade 1b was detected in London.
The patient has been transferred to the Royal Free Hospital High Consequence Infectious Diseases unit.
They had recently travelled to countries in Africa that are seeing cases of the strain in the community.
It marks the first detection of this strain of mpox in the UK. Germany reported its first Clade 1b case earlier this month.
At least 1,000 deaths from the strain had been reported across Africa at that time, which prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare the increasing spread of the disease a global health emergency for the second time in two years.
The UKHSA added the risk to the UK population remains low.
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