Mpox outbreak: Has the deadly new variant reached the UK and how worried should we be?

A deadly new variant of the Mpox virus has spread through countries in Africa - and concerns are intensifying after Europe and Asia report their first cases. Over the past two years the UK has reported 186 cases of Mpox with no fatalities. Clade 2 Mpox, the less-deadly of the two major variants, has been present in the UK since 2022.

But African countries have seen a new, potentially more dangerous variant of the disease spreading rapidly as scientists scramble to get the disease under control . The Democratic Republic of Congo has faced the brunt of the new variant, known as Clade 1b, which scientists say is mutating “rapidly” and proving difficult to control. In 2024, 19,667 cases and 575 deaths were reported in the Congo, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Epidemic Intelligence Report - marking around 90 percent of all cases in Africa.

The World Health Organisation declared a global health emergency on August 15, and have now called on member states to help fund a $135million battle plan to fight the spread of the virus. The outbreak “can be controlled and can be stopped”, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, but this will require “approximately $135 million over the next six months for the acute phase of the outbreak”. Mpox belongs to the same virus family as smallpox, but produces milder symptoms including fever, chills and body aches.

Serious cases can lead to lesions on the face, hand, chest and genitals. The vir.