Ljubljana - A total of 35 cases of monkeypox have so far been confirmed in Slovenia since the first case was reported in late May, according to the National Institute of Public Health.

The institute's data shows just over one third of the cases were individuals who got infected abroad - in Spain, Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina - and a good third got infected in Slovenia.

The source of infection for the other cases could not have been determined.

The first case in Slovenia was confirmed on 24 May in a man who returned from a trip to the Canary Islands, with the second case confirmed a day later in a person who had been to Spain as well.

Monkeypox started spreading from west and central African countries, where the disease is endemic, to other parts of the world in early May.

The World Health Organisation declared the monkeypox outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" on 23 July.

The latest data from the WHO shows more than 18,000 cases of infection and five deaths have so far been confirmed in a total of 78 countries around the world.

Due to the increasing number of cases in many countries, the WHO followed up on Wednesday by issuing for the first time concrete recommendations on sexual behaviour.

The same day European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides called on EU member states to take a stronger and more coordinated approach to the monkeypox outbreak as the EU has become the epicentre of the cases detected.

The STA has approached the Health Ministry for comment but is yet to receive an answer. It is also yet to receive information on how many doses of the vaccine against monkeypox Slovenia will receive and when.