The Philippines has detected three additional monkeypox (mpox) cases, bringing the country’s total number of active mpox cases to eight.

"The three new cases include men aged 29 and 34 from Metro Manila and a 29-year-old male from a region south of Manila.”The Philippine Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

Herbosa added that as with the five smallpox patients reported by the DOH earlier, the new patients are infected with a milder MPXV clade II.

In turn, DOH spokesman Albert Domingo said that the DOH would continue tracing the people who have close contact with the active patients.