Japan confirms first monkeypox case as it steps up preparation for outbreak

Japan confirmed its first case of monkeypox Monday, with the news coming on the same day that the nation stepped up preparations for an outbreak following the World Health Organization’s declaration over the weekend that the viral disease constitutes a global public health emergency.

Health ministry officials said Monday that patients can be tested either at the National Institute of Infections Diseases or local public health institutes set up in all of 47 prefectures.

One of the studies, being carried out at the Tokyo-based National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM), will allow family members or partners of monkeypox patients to receive a smallpox vaccine.

Through another clinical study, the government has already given the smallpox vaccine to medical workers at the NCGM and is monitoring its effects, a ministry official said.