The UK ‘should be more prepared’ for the first case of Monkeypox as it may already have spread into the country.

It comes as Sweden became the first country to declare a case of Clade 1 mpox outside of Africa, where the virus has killed at least 500 people.

Paul Hunter, Professor of Medicine at the University of East Anglia, told the Mirror: “I’d bet on it already being in the country, because by the time you get infected and diagnosed to understand what Clade it is, you’re looking at around two weeks.”

Experts have also said ‘we should have learned our lesson’ from previous outbreaks and tried to stop the spread as soon as we knew about it.

Michael Weekes, Professor of Viral Immunology at the University of Cambridge, stated: “Monkeypox is going to keep coming back – governments should have realised this.”

“They needed to provide better funding, better access to vaccines and a proper global response after the spread in 2022.”