Tourists may face several intense health screenings upon entering Spain's busiest airport as officials warn the government must contain a new outbreak of the virus.
Authorities are imposing restrictions on Spanish borders after the country is on high alert to prevent the spread of M.pox.
A new strain of the virus was detected in Sweden last week, leading to fears of a spike in cases across Europe. Health and environment chiefs in Madrid have advised the government to take further measures to stop any cases entering the country.
Barajas Airport, considered the country's busiest, is believed to include health checks and close monitoring of travelers from African countries hardest hit by the virus. Tourists are being asked to be cautious amid the new measures, the Mirror reports.
Carlos Novello, the head of Madrid's environment department, called on the health ministry to take precautions, especially at Barajas, a major airport that registers a large number of daily passengers, rather than simply reacting.
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The latest data from the WHO shows that about 13 countries in the Americas have reported cases of M. pox infections from different strains this year. John Claude Adahimoka, a lecturer at the University of Rwanda involved in the clinical response to MPOX, warned: "It is undoubtedly the most dangerous of all the known strains of MPOX, considering how it spreads, how it spreads. Yes, and symptoms too.
He stressed the need for countries to be prepared for the spread of the virus. Everyone should be prepared. Everyone should be able to detect the disease as early as possible. But more importantly, everyone should support local research and local responses to prevent it from spreading.
A second person outside Africa has been confirmed to be infected with the deadly new Mpox strain as the WHO declares it a public health emergency. An increase in cases of the disease - formerly known as monkeypox - in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other African countries has raised alarm worldwide. This week the WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern - the same classification used in the past for the Covid-19 Ebola outbreak.
No cases of this new strain of MPox have been seen in the UK so far across Africa - but now a second case has been found elsewhere. A person in Thailand tested positive this week after an earlier diagnosis in Sweden.
Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director general of Thailand's Department of Disease Control, said the patient was infected with a clade 1b monkey disease that has been reported.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is an infectious disease caused by a virus. It can cause flu-like symptoms including fever, muscle aches, and skin rashes or pus-filled sores that can last two to four weeks.
