(Yicai Global) July 5 -- Shenyang, in China’s northeastern Liaoning province, reported a case of the disease formerly known as monkeypox yesterday, becoming the third Chinese mainland city to do so in less than a month.

The mainland has reported six cases of mpox, with the first imported case confirmed in Chongqing last September. Beijing declared two infections on June 6, and Guangzhou detected two more on June 11.

Mpox is transmitted via close contact and enters the body mainly through damaged skin and mucous membranes. Early symptoms are similar to those of influenza, including fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and fatigue, and some infected people may feel lethargic and sleepy.

China has seen infections linked to imported cases recently, so there is a need to be vigilant to local transmission of mpox, a public health expert told Yicai Global. But the virus is not very virulent, so there is no need to worry excessively, he added.

After a widespread global outbreak in 2022, the mpox epidemic has been at a low level this year, but around 90 cases are still reported each week. The World Health Organization declared that the mpox outbreak no longer poses a public health emergency of international concern on May 11.

The recent surge of mpox cases in some Asian countries and Chinese cities has drawn the attention of the country’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which has enhanced the health quarantine of incoming personnel and monitoring of people at high risk of infection, Shi Guoqing, deputy director of the CDC’s Public Health Emergency Center, told the media last month.

Editors: Lv Yining, Martin Kadiev