Pakistan has confirmed at least one case of the mpox virus, a day after Sweden confirmed an infection with a more easily spread and deadlier variant linked to a recent outbreak in Africa.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Health said in a statement on Friday that the mpox strain that had caused the confirmed case was not immediately known.

Irshad Roghani, director of public health in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the 34-year-old patient is being treated, said samples had been sent to Islamabad for genetic sequencing to ascertain which variant of the virus the patient contracted.

Meanwhile, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Friday raised its risk level for mpox from “low” to “moderate”, warning there would be more imported cases.