ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination on Tuesday reported that Pakistan has detected its first case of monkeypox in a visitor from overseas. The person was deported from Saudi Arabia and arrived in Pakistan on April 17 with signs of monkeypox, according to health ministry authorities.

The National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, received samples of the person, whose name has been kept private, and a day earlier the institution determined that he was a carrier of the contagious virus. The person’s family are currently being inspected and urged to remain in quarantine in order to prevent the virus from spreading. The government has also started contract tracing.

World Health Organization (WHO) has said that monkeypox typically presents with a skin rash or mucosal lesions that can last two to four weeks along with fever, headache, muscular pains, back pain, poor energy, and enlarged lymph nodes. Humans can get the monkeypox virus through coming into personal contact with a diseased person, contaminated objects, or infected animals.