BANGKOK: Thailand has detected an mpox case in a European man who arrived from Africa last week and is awaiting test results to determine the strain, a disease control official said on Wednesday.
Thai authorities were treating the case as if it were the Clade 1 form of mpox, as the person, a 66-year-old European man with residency in Thailand had arrived on Aug. 14 from an African country where it was spreading, Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said.
“After he arrives from the flight there is very little time frame where he come into contact with others,” Thongchai said. “He arrives around 6 p.m. and on the next day, Aug 15, he went to see the doctor at the hospital.”
Thongchai said the man has undergone a test to determine whether the case was a Clade 1 variant, with the result expected by Friday. Authorities are also monitoring 43 people in the country who may come into contact with the patient, he said.
The director-general did not name the African country the man had been in. He said the man had transited in a Middle Eastern country, which he also did not name, before flying on to Thailand.
Thailand has detected 800 cases of mpox Clade 2 since 2022, but so far not detected a case of the Clade 1 or Clade 1b variants.
Thailand says mpox case recorded in traveler from Africa
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Thailand says mpox case recorded in traveler from Africa
- Thai authorities were treating the case as if it were the Clade 1 form of mpox
- Thailand has detected 800 cases of mpox Clade 2 since 2022, but so far not detected a case of the Clade 1 or Clade 1b variants
In surprise move, Spain to grant legal status to thousands of immigrants lacking permission
- The permits will apply to those who arrived in Spain before Dec. 31, 2025
- The measure could benefit between 500,000 and 800,000 people
BARCELONA: Spain’s government announced Tuesday it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization, the latest example of how the country has bucked a trend toward increasingly harsh immigration policies seen in the United States and much of Europe.
Spain’s Minister of Migration, Elma Saiz, announced the extraordinary measure following the weekly cabinet meeting. She said her government will amend existing immigration laws by expedited decree to grant immigrants who are living in Spain without authorization legal residency of up to one year as well as permission to work.
The permits will apply to those who arrived in Spain before Dec. 31, 2025, and who can prove they have lived in Spain for at least five months. They must also prove they have no criminal record.
“Today is a historic day,” Saiz told journalists during a press conference. The measure could benefit between 500,000 and 800,000 people estimated by different organizations to be living in the shadows of Spanish society. Many are Latin American or African immigrants working in the agricultural, tourism or service sectors, backbones of Spain’s growing economy.
The expedited decree bypasses a similar bill that has stalled in parliament. Saiz said she expects immigrants will be able to start applying for their legal status from April once the decree comes into force.
The Spanish government’s move came as a surprise to many after a last-minute deal between the ruling Socialist Party and the left-wing Podemos party in exchange for parliamentary support to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wobbly government.
The news was welcomed by hundreds of migrant rights groups and prominent Catholic associations who had campaigned and obtained 700,000 signatures for a similar initiative that was admitted for debate in Congress in 2024 but was unlikely to get enough votes to pass.
As other nations, many emboldened by the Trump administration, move to restrict immigration and asylum worldwide, Spain has taken the opposite direction with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his ministers often extolling the benefits of immigration to the economy.
The Iberian nation has taken in millions of people from South America and Africa in recent years, with the vast majority entering the country legally.
