Stockholm: The number of confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide has reached 219 outside of countries where it is endemic, according to an update released by the European Union’s disease agency.

More than a dozen countries where monkeypox is unusual, mostly in Europe, have reported at least one confirmed case, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in an epidemiological note released Wednesday night.

“This is the first time that chains of transmission are reported in Europe without known epidemiological links to West or Central Africa, where this disease is endemic,” the note said.

It added that most of the cases were detected in young men, self-identifying as men who have sex with men.

The United Kingdom – where monkeypox’s unusual appearance was first detected in early May – currently has the largest bulk of confirmed cases, 71.

It is followed by Spain with 51 cases and Portugal, 37.

Outside of Europe, Canada has 15 and the United States has nine.

The total number of cases reported Wednesday has increased fivefold since its first count on May 20, when the EU agency said there were 38 cases.

Contagion risk is “very low”, the ECDC said earlier this week, but warned that people who have had multiple sexual partners – regardless of sexual orientation – are more at risk.

“The clinical presentation is generally described to be mild,” it said, adding that there has been no deaths.

Monkeypox – a less severe disease compared to its cousin smallpox – is endemic in 11 countries in West and Central Africa.

It spreads by a bite or direct contact with an infected animal’s blood, meat or bodily fluids, and initial symptoms include a high fever before quickly developing into a rash.

People infected with it also get a chickenpox-like rash on their hands and face.

No treatment exists but the symptoms usually clear up after two to four weeks, and it is not usually fatal.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the emerging disease lead for the World Health Organization, said Monday that monkeypox is a “containable situation”.

SOURCE: AFP

Islamabad: Youm-e-Takbeer is being observed today with national zeal and fervour to commemorate historic nuclear tests at Chagai in 1998.

This year theme of the day is "Na Jhuky thay na Jhuken gay".

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has also released a national song in connection with the "Youm-e-Takbeer". It was aimed at highlighting the importance of "Youm-e-Takbeer".

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif had already announced ten-day celebrations on the completion of 24 years of nuclear tests.

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Shehroze Kashif became the youngest mountaineer ever to scale top five highest mountain peaks in the world.

Shehroze aka ‘The Broad Boy’ achieved the unique feat after summiting 8463m-high Makalu – the fifth highest mountain in the world.

This is his third summit of a mountain over 8000m in this month. On May 16, Kashif summited the 8516m-high Lhotse is Nepal.

On May 6, Kashif summited the 8586m-high Kangchenjunga Mountain, which is the world’s third-highest mountain.

He is the only Pakistan mountaineer to summit three mountains over 8000m in a month.

Kashif was the first Pakistani, and also the youngest man ever, to summit the Kanchenjunga Mountain. He also holds two Guinness records of the youngest ever to summit both K2 and Mount Everest.

On July 27, 2021, Kashif summited K2, the second tallest peak in the world. He scaled the 8,611-metre high peak with the aid of bottled oxygen. Before Kashif, Sajid Sadpara, the son of the legendary climber Muhammad Ali Sadpara, was the youngest person to have climbed K2 at the age of 20.

Earlier, he scaled the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, at the age of 19.

The young mountaineer who hails from Lahore started climbing at the age of 11. His first summit was Makra Peak (3885m). At 12, he climbed the 4080m Musa Ka Massalah and 4600m Chembra peak.