KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said no Malaysians have been reported to be infected with monkeypox as of today.

This comes after reports emerged that Saudi Arabia detected its first case in Riyadh stemming from an overseas arrival, officials said yesterday.

"As far as we know, there are no cases among our Haj pilgrims. What we were made aware of are cases in Singapore where they've found three local cases.

"Two of the infected individuals didn't visit Malaysia, only one of them did," he said at a press conference today.

Monkeypox, endemic in parts of Africa, is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions. The cousin of the smallpox virus has mostly been confined to developing countries for years but has spread across Europe and the US in recent months.

The illness often lasts for two weeks to a month and can be deadly.