The variant has already caused at least 548 deaths since the beginning of the year in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the worst-hit country, and the WHO considers "it is likely that further imported cases will be recorded in the European region in the coming days and weeks", the European section of the organization said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the organization activated its highest international alert level in response to the resurgence of cases of mpox - previously known as monkeypox - on the African continent.

A total of 38,465 cases of the disease have been recorded in 16 African countries since January 2022, with 1,456 deaths, including a 160% increase in the number of cases in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data published last week by the African Union's health agency, Africa CDC.

On Thursday, the Swedish Public Health Agency announced that a person living in the Stockholm region had been diagnosed as carrying the more contagious subtype and dangerous variant of the mpox virus, a case never seen before outside Africa.

“The affected person was infected during a stay in a region of Africa where there is a large epidemic of mpox subtype clade 1,” explained Olivia Wigzell, acting head of the Swedish agency, during a press conference.

In a press release, the Swedish agency said that the fact that “a person is being treated for smallpox in the country does not imply any risk to the rest of the population”, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) considers that this risk is currently very low.

The agency told AFP in a message that the case in Sweden was the mpox variant of subtype clade 1b, which has been re-emerging in the DRC since September 2023, and where all provinces are now affected by the epidemic.

For the WHO, “it is imperative” not to stigmatize travelers or countries/regions: “Only by working together, sharing data and taking the necessary public health measures can we control the spread of this virus,” considering it crucial to avoid travel restrictions and border closures.