India has confirmed its first case of the new, more dangerous strain of mpox known as clade 1b, health authorities said on Tuesday.

India has reported its first case with the new mpox strain that has triggered a public health emergency alert by the World Health Organization (WHO), Reuters reports. Called clade 1b, the new variant is highly-transmissible and has been linked to the mpox outbreak in Africa.

India said on Monday that an mpox case involving a man in the southern state of Kerala was from the fast-spreading clade 1b variety, marking South Asia's first recorded case from the new strain.