(UPDATE) THE Department of Health (DoH) reported on Sunday the number of mpox cases in the county has risen to 17.

Two new cases were reported in Metro Manila and one in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) region. All three have the milder clade 2 strain.

The DoH said two of the cases had sexual encounters with more than one partner, while the third had close skin-to-skin sexual contact with another person who had skin symptoms.

One of the patients from Metro Manila is a 29-year-old male whose symptoms started to manifest last August 21. He had rashes, swollen neck lymph nodes, sore throat, muscle pain, and weakness. His fever also began a day after.

The other Metro Manila patient is a 34-year-old male whose symptoms started on August 27. He had rashes, blisters, a cough, fatigue and swollen lymph nodes.

All three patients had not traveled to places where mpox was widespread.

Nine of the 17 cases reported since July have recovered.

All local government units where the cases reside have been informed of their situation, the DoH said.

"Anyone can get mpox, but it is crystal clear that the mode of transmission here is close, intimate and skin-to-skin contact," Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said. "Prevention is also clear: avoid intimate contact, especially anonymous with multiple sexual partners."

On Saturday, Unicef said it had launched an emergency tender for mpox vaccines to help countries hardest hit by the recent outbreak of the disease.

"The emergency tender is designed to secure immediate access to available mpox vaccines as well as to expand production," Unicef said in a statement issued along with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gavi vaccine alliance and Africa CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

"Depending on demand, production capacity of manufacturers and funding, agreements for up to 12 million doses through 2025 can be put in place," it said.

Under the emergency tender, Unicef plans to set up conditional supply agreements with vaccine manufacturers.

This "will enable the agency to purchase and ship vaccines without delay once countries and partners have secured financing, confirmed demand and readiness, and the regulatory requirements for accepting the vaccines are in place."

The WHO declared an international emergency over mpox on August 14, concerned by the surge in cases of the new Clade 1b strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo that spread to nearby countries.

More than 18,000 suspected cases of mpox have been reported in the DRC so far this year, with 629 deaths.