NEW DELHI

The sixth case of monkeypox in the country has been confirmed in Delhi—importantly, in an individual who has no recent history of travel.A 35-year-old Delhi resident from Nigeria who has never travelled recently tested positive for monkeypox.

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared monkeypox a "public health emergency of international concern", a description that it uses for only two other diseases, Covid-19 and polio.

"We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria (for the designation)," WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said. 

Watch | Monkeypox: Expert tells WION what you must know

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There have been more than 16,000 instances of monkeypox infection recorded from 75 different nations. The majority of infections outside of Africa have been found in men who have sex with other men globally (MSM).

On July 14, a 35-year-old Kerala resident who had just returned from the UAE was found to have the country's first case of monkeypox. A 31-year-old man who had travelled from Dubai to Kannur on July 13 was the second case that Kerala confirmed on July 18, and a 35-year-old patient who had travelled to Malappuram from the UAE on July 6 was the third case that Kerala confirmed on Friday.

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After the first case was found, a multidisciplinary team from the Center was dispatched to Kerala to coordinate public health actions.

(With input from agencies)

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