KAMITUGA, Congo -- Slumped on the ground over a mound of dirt, Divine Wisoba pulled weeds from her daughter's grave. The 1-month-old died of mpox in eastern Congo in August, but Wisoba, 21, was too traumatized to attend the funeral.

A gold-mining town in eastern Congo has emerged as a hotspot for mpox as a new strain spreads, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. Kamituga is part of the South Kivu province, where more than 6,000 people are suspected to have contracted the virus.

World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that Congo has reported over 21,000 of the 25,093 confirmed and suspected Mpox cases in Africa for 2024. In the recent outbreaks, more than 720 people have died,

Health officials have zeroed in on Kamituga, a remote yet bustling gold mining town of some 300,000 people that attracts miners, sex workers and traders who are constantly on the move. Cases from other parts of eastern Congo can be traced back here, officials say, with the first originating in the nightclub scene.

Health Minister of Indian state of Kerala, Veena George, said on Thursday that genome sequencing will be conducted to identify the variant of the virus that the person diagnosed with monkeypox (mpox) in the state has contracted.