A case of the mpox virus detected in Pakistan last week is not the same strain of the virus spreading on the African continent, Pakistan health officials said Monday.

Health officials determined that the case in Pakistan can be classified as Clade 2b, Pakistan’s health ministry said in a statement.

"Currently, the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is primarily associated with Clade 1b. Notably, as of now, there have been no reported cases of Clade 1b in Pakistan," the statement said.

However, Swedish officials said last week a Clade 1b subclade was detected in an individual, becoming the first case linked to the African outbreak and diagnosed outside of Africa.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared last week the uptick in mpox cases in the DRC and other African countries as a public health emergency of international concern.