India, April 6 -- Seven infants, four of whom tested positive for mpox, have died in southeastern Pakistan, in what health officials described on Sunday as the country's first local outbreak of the infectious viral disease.

The mpox cases were reported in Sindh province's Khairpur town. A spokesperson for the health department said that blood samples of seven infants were tested in Karachi and initial findings confirmed that four of them were affected by mpox.  The spokesperson, Dr Ahmed Sheikh, said that the infants died in two hospitals in Khairpur after being admitted for painful lesions, flu-like symptoms and fever.

The virus spreads through close contact with infected humans or even animals.

Sheikh said it is the first local ...