Spain reports first monkeypox-related death: Ministry

Spain is one of the world's worst-hit countries and 4,298 people have been infected with the virus, according to the health ministry's emergency and alert coordination centre.

Spain reported its first monkeypox-related death on Friday, marking what is thought to be the first death linked to the current outbreak in Europe.

Syringes used for the monkeypox vaccine are seen inside of a bucket in a drive-through monkeypox vaccination point at the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York. (REUTERS)

Spain is one of the world's worst-hit countries and 4,298 people have been infected with the virus, according to the health ministry's emergency and alert coordination centre.

"Of the 3,750 (monkeypox) patients with available information, 120 cases were hospitalised (3.2 percent) and one case has died," the centre said in a report, following a fatality in Brazil linked to the disease which was the first death outside of Africa.

An official would not give the specific cause of death for the fatality pending the outcome of an autopsy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) last Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency.

According to the WHO, more than 18,000 cases have been detected throughout the world outside of Africa since the beginning of May.

It has been detected in 78 countries with 70 percent of cases found in Europe and 25 percent in the Americas, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.