Peshawar confirms second Mpox case this month.

Health authorities in Peshawar have confirmed the city’s second case of the mpox virus this month, as screening efforts continue at airports and border entry points.

A five-month-old girl tested positive for mpox upon arrival at Peshawar airport from Qatar, according to Attaullah Khan, spokesperson for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s health adviser Ihtesham Ali. The health department has begun testing her parents for the virus.

This follows a case detected last week in a 35-year-old man during airport screening. The patient was moved to an isolation ward at Police Services Hospital.

Pakistan has reported at least eight mpox cases in 2024, though no cases of the highly mutated clade I strain—first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo—have been recorded. The country continues to enforce strict screening measures after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency over the new strain in August 2024.