Public health expert Dr. Sher Bahadur Pun has warned about the potential entry of communicable diseases into Nepal through travel.

Speaking at a health-related program in Kathmandu on Saturday, Dr. Pun noted that Mpox (monkeypox), which is currently spreading in Africa and European countries, could potentially reach Nepal.

"We cannot be entirely confident that we will remain untouched by the pandemic," he stated.

However, Dr. Pun emphasized that, based on current medical experiences, Mpox is not as deadly as COVID-19. It is a skin infection similar to chickenpox, he said.

Mpox, a viral infection first detected in monkeys in 1958, was initially diagnosed in a nine-year-old boy in Congo in 1970. To date, it has spread to 40 countries worldwide. -- RSS