Mpox virus 2024: Thailand confirms case as dangerous new variant spreads

Thailand has confirmed its first case of the new more dangerous strain of mpox, after a European traveller tested positive for the virus.

The 66-year-old man arrived from an unnamed African country on August 14 and he has had minimal contact with others since he arrived, according to health authorities.

The country has introduced testing on arrival for people from ‘risk countries’ over fears of the spread of the new clade 1 mpox variant, which experts say is likely to already be in the UK.

This variant is of concern because it spreads faster and has a higher mortality rate in comparison to the milder version of the clade 2 outbreak that was recorded in Europe, Australia, the US and many other countries in 2022.

The clade 1 variant is now endemic in central Africa and is behind the recently discovered variant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mpox has spread to Sweden while cases have also been reported in Pakistan and the Philippines.