The Los Angeles Department of Public Health said on Monday it had confirmed the area's first death due to monkeypox, saying the individual was severely immunocompromised and had been hospitalised.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared monkeypox a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’.

Spain and Brazil reported their first monkeypox-related deaths on Friday, marking what are thought to be the first fatalities linked to the current outbreak outside of Africa.

Japan yesterday confirmed its first case of monkeypox, detected in a man in his 30s who had travelled overseas, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike

Early measures would go a long way in preventing another outbreak

The World Health Organization on Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak, which has affected nearly 16,000 people in 72 countries, to be a global health emergency -- the highest alarm it can sound.

No monkeypox case has been detected in Bangladesh yet, Dr Md Sharfuddin Ahmed, vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) said today.

The World Health Organization does not have evidence that the monkeypox virus has mutated, a senior executive at the UN agency said on Monday, noting the infectious disease that is endemic in west and central Africa has tended not to change.

The United Nations’ Aids agency has called some reporting on the monkeypox virus racist and homophobic, warning of exacerbating stigma and undermining the response to the growing outbreak.