Kenya has confirmed its first case of mpox in the capital Nairobi in a traveller now in quarantine, the health ministry said Friday, taking the tally of infections in the country to three.

The patient, a 30-year-old woman, arrived in Kenya from neighbouring Uganda a week ago, director general for health Patrick Amoth said in a statement.

She has been isolated at a hospital in Nairobi and is in a stable condition, he said.

The case is the first outbreak of the disease in Nairobi, the country's most populous city, with 4.4 million inhabitants according to the latest census in 2019.

Two other patients have since recovered and been discharged from hospitals near the southwest and eastern borders.

"Seventeen contacts remain under close observation and this positive outcome demonstrates our effective response and management of the disease," the health ministry said.

Seven samples were being screened for the virus transmitted to humans by infected animals that can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

It causes fever, muscle pains and skin lesions and in an increasing number of cases, death.

The disease's resurgence and the detection in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of a new strain, dubbed Clade 1b, prompted the World Health Organization to declare its highest international alert level on August 14.

The African Union's health watchdog, Africa CDC, also declared a public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak on the continent.

Cases are surging in the region, with outbreaks reported in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, but have also been detected in Asia and Europe.

At least 22,863 suspected cases and 622 deaths had been reported in Africa as of August 27, the Africa CDC said on Wednesday.

According to the WHO, Africa had 5,281 confirmed cases of mpox from the beginning of 2024 up till August 25.

The DRC, where the virus was first discovered in humans in 1970, has borne the brunt of the epidemic with 90 percent of 2024's reported mpox cases, according to the WHO.