As of June 14, the total number confirmed in the UK was 524.
Currently, there are 504 confirmed cases in England, 13 in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland, and five in Wales.
Anyone can get monkeypox, especially if they have had close contact, including sexual contact, with someone who has symptoms.
If you have a rash with blisters and have been in close contact, including sexual contact, with someone who has or may have monkeypox (even if they haven’t been tested yet) in the last three weeks, contact a sexual health clinic. Today, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Met Office issued a Level 3 Heat-Health alert for London, the East of England, and the South East.
This alert follows the Level 2 alert issued on Tuesday and confirms that the Met Office’s alert threshold temperatures will be reached in three regions beginning on Friday. The East Midlands and South West remain under Level 2 alert.
Temperatures in these areas are expected to rise throughout the week, peaking on Friday, June 17, with the alerts in effect until midnight on Saturday, June 18. A WHO official said on Wednesday that the World Health Organization is investigating reports that the monkeypox virus is present in patient sperm, and that the disease could be transmitted sexually.
Many cases in the current monkeypox outbreak, which is primarily concentrated in Europe, are among sexual partners who have had close contact, and the agency reiterated that the virus is primarily transmitted through close interpersonal contact.
In recent days, scientists claim to have found viral DNA in the sperm of a handful of monkeypox patients in Italy and Germany, including a lab-tested sample indicating that the virus found in the sperm of a single patient was capable of infecting and replicating in another person.