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More cases of the rare monkeypox virus, normally found in Africa, have been confirmed in the UK, bringing the total to 302, BBC reported.

Twenty-six other countries have also had cases, including many in Europe.

Health officials say anyone can get monkeypox, particularly if they've had close contact with someone with symptoms.

They advise contacting NHS 111 or a sexual health clinic if you have a rash with blisters on any part of the body.

The UK Health Security Agency says there are currently 287 confirmed cases of monkeypox in England, 10 in Scotland, three in Wales and two in Northern Ireland.

In total, 780 cases of monkeypox have been found in recent weeks in countries where the virus is not usually present, outside of west and central Africa, according to BBC.

Spain, Portugal, France, Canada, Australia and Mexico are just some of the countries to have been affected.

The risk to the general population is low and the symptoms usually clear up within a few weeks, but the virus can be more severe in those who are particularly vulnerable.

Monkeypox is not sexually transmitted but it looks like the infection has been introduced in networks of gay and bisexual men in the UK, and that's where most cases are currently being seen.

According to figures released last week, many of them are young men living in London. 

Monkeypox is not spread easily between people but it can be passed on through close contact with skin, clothes, bedding and towels. So far, no one factor linking the cases in the UK has been identified, BBC reported.

The latest advice is to contact NHS 111 or a sexual health clinic if you have a rash with blisters, and you've:

Russia has begun turning over the bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the destroyed city of Mariupolwhere their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion, Associated Press reported.

Dozens of the dead taken from the bombed-out mill’s now Russian-occupied ruins have been transferred to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.

The Azov Regiment was among the Ukrainian units that defended the steelworks for nearly three months before surrendering in May under relentless Russian attacks from the ground, sea and air.

It was unclear how many bodies might remain at the plant.

Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to fight for control of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern Ukrainian city that is key to Moscow’s goal of completing the capture of the industrial Donbas region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were holding their positions in the city amid fierce fighting in the streets as Russia tries to deploy more forces.

“But it is the 103rd day, and the Ukrainian Donbas stands. It stands firmly,” he said in his nightly address to the nation.

Zelenskyy also said Moscow’s forces intend to take the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, home to more than 700,000 people, a move that could severely weaken Ukraine’s standing and allow the Russian military to advance closer to the center of the country, according to Associated Press.

“In the Zaporizhzhia region ... there is the most threatening situation there,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian fighters’ dogged defense of the steel mill frustrated the Kremlin’s objective of quickly capturing Mariupol and tied down Russian forces in the strategic port city.

The defenders’ fate in Russian hands is shrouded in uncertainty. Zelenskyy said more than than 2,500 fighters from the plant are being held prisoner, and Ukraine is working to win their release.

The recovery of their remains from the Azovstal ruins has not been announced by the Ukrainian government, and Russian officials have not commented. But relatives of soldiers killed at the plant discussed the process with The Associated Press.

Ukraine on Saturday announced the first officially confirmed swap of its military dead since the war began. It said the two sides exchanged 320 bodies in all, each getting back 160 sets of remains. The swap took place Thursday on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Anna Holovko, a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment, said all 160 of the Ukrainian bodies turned over by the Russians were from the Azovstal ruins. She said that at least 52 of those bodies are thought to be the remains of Azov Regiment soldiers, Associated Press reported.

Maksym Zhorin, a former Azov Regiment leader now co-commanding a Kyiv-based military unit, confirmed that bodies from the steel plant were among those exchanged.

The brother of an Azov fighter missing and feared dead in the steelworks told the AP that at least two trucks of bodies from Azovstal were transferred to a military hospital in Kyiv for identification.

Viacheslav Drofa said the remains of his elder brother, Dmitry Lisen, did not appear to be among those recovered so far. He added that some of the dead were severely burned.

The mother of a soldier killed in an airstrike on the plant said the Azov Regiment telephoned her and said her son’s body might be among those transferred to Kyiv. The mother did not want her or her son to be identified by name, saying she feared that discussing the recovery process might disrupt it.

She tearfully referred to her son as a hero. “It’s important for me to bury him in our Ukrainian land,” she said.

In other developments Monday, Ukraine’s efforts to fight off Russia’s invasion loomed large over D-Day commemorations in France, where the 78th anniversary of the Normandy invasion was marked.

“The fight in Ukraine is about honoring these veterans of World War II,” Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, according to Associated Press.

He added: “It’s about maintaining the so-called global rules-based international order that was established by the dead who are buried here at this cemetery.”

The government has decided to revoke its decision to grant a two-day weekend--Saturday and Sunday.

A Cabinet meeting held on Monday decided to overturn its decision to provide two days of holiday a week.

The decision will come into effect from June 15.

Earlier on April 27, the government had decided to grant a two-day weekend effective from May 15 as a trial.

The government took the decision with a view to reducing the consumption of fuel. 

The concerned stakeholders had been piling pressure on the government to roll back its decision to provide two days of holiday a week. 

Earlier this afternoon, advocates Tej Kumar Lohiya, Ram Bahadur Shahi, Santosh Bhandari, Trilok Chand and Deepak Khanal among others filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court against the government decision to provide two days of holiday a week.

The government has promoted five Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs) to the post of Additional Inspector General of the Nepal Police.

A Cabinet meeting held on Monday decided to promote them to the post of AIG on the recommendation of the Promotion Committee of the Home Ministry.

The government has decided to promote DIGs Uttam Raj Subedi, Arun Kumar BC, Dibesh Lohani, Mukunda Raj Acharya and Puja Singh to the post of AIG.

A meeting of the Promotion Committee held on  May 23 had recommended the government to promote them to AIG.