Philippines has confirmed two more monkey pox virus infections of the milder clade 2

variety, its health ministry said Monday, bringing the number of active cases to three

according to the country’s health ministry

The Health Minister Teodoro Herbosa said in a statement that they continue to see local

transmission of monkeypox clade II in the Philippines, in Metro Manila in particular.

The newly confirmed cases were a 37-year-old male in Metro Manila who had rash on his

body last week and was brought to a government hospital, and a 32-year-old male from the

capital who had skin lesions on his body.

The Philippines announced last week it had detected a case of the monkeypox virus' milder

variant in a 33-year-old male who had no travel history outside the Philippines. The three

cases this year means the Philippines has had 12 laboratory-confirmed case since July

2022.

World Health Organization earlier this month declared mpox a global public health

emergency, its highest form of alert, for the second time in two years, because of an

outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that had spread to neighbouring countries.

A new form of the virus has triggered global concern as it seems to spread easily though

routine close contact. The disease, caused by the monkeypox virus, leads to flu-like

symptoms and pus-filled lesions. It is usually mild but can kill, with children, pregnant

women and people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV, all at higher

risk of complications.