Genome sequences of the first two imported cases of monkeypox detected in Kerala clearly show that they belong to a small cluster — A.2 — that was very different from the one that was first detected in the U.K. on May 6 this year and has since spread to more than 75 countries. The genomes from the major outbreak of monkeypox cases in Europe and the rest of the world belong to the B.1 lineage.
The genomes of the virus collected from the first two cases in Kerala were sequenced by ICMR’s nodal lab, National Institute of Virology, Pune and deposited without delay in the global database GISAID.
