Jamaica on Sunday confirmed its second case of the monkeypox virus.
It comes a day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency, the highest alert that agency can issue.
The Health and Wellness Ministry, in a release Sunday, said the latest Jamaican case is an imported one involving a male who recently returned to the island from New York in the United States.
The patient is now in isolation and is in stable condition, the ministry said in a statement.
The case is being investigated and contact tracing has started.
The island recorded its first case of the monkeypox virus on July 6.
That patient went to the public health system on July 5, having arrived on the island five days earlier.
The man set off panic on July 9 after fleeing isolation at the May Pen Hospital in Clarendon reportedly because he wanted to “enjoy” his vacation in Jamaica.
He was found and put back under isolation later that day.
WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Saturday more than 16,000 cases have been reported from 75 countries.
