Monkeypox is in Malaysia, but there is no need to panic over it

The palms of a monkeypox patient from Lodja, a city located within the Katako-Kombe Health Zone, are seen during a health investigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo in this 1997 picture. — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Reuters

Monkeypox was first brought to the attention of Malaysians in 2019 following the report of a case in Singapore.

In an average year, a few thousand cases occur in western and central Africa.