TOKYO -- Japan detected its first case of the monkeypox virus, in Tokyo, the capital's governor said on Monday.

The infected person is a man in his 30s who has returned from Europe and is currently in a hospital, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike told reporters.

The World Health Organization on Saturday said the rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak represents a global health emergency.

So far this year there have been more than 16,000 monkeypox cases in more than 75 countries, and five deaths in Africa.

The virus spreads via close contact and tends to cause flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions.

(Reporting by Sakura Murakami and Sam Nussey; Editing by Toby Chopra and Mark Porter)