Japan's health minister said on Friday that there have been no confirmed cases of monkeypox in Japan.
Shigeyuki Goto made the remarks at a press briefing amid concerns over rising numbers of cases of monkeypox infections being confirmed in a number of countries.
Goto told reporters that monkeypox cases legally require reporting if identified in Japan, but that the government had not received any such reports thus far.
The Japanese health minister said that the country has a stockpile of domestically produced smallpox vaccines.