Another case of mpox has been detected as the classification of the infectious disease is raised one level from the lowest "attention" to "caution" on the four-tier scale.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) on Thursday confirmed the nation's ninth patient as a resident of Gyeonggi Province who visited a hospital the previous day for skin lesions.

The KDCA suspects the latest case of the disease formerly known as monkeypox was a local transmission given that the patient had no record of overseas travel within three weeks of experiencing symptoms and had close contact with a confirmed case.

The patient is receiving treatment in quarantine with an epidemiological study under way to trace the source of the transmission.

The latest case came a day after the country added two patients, after which the KDCA held a meeting and decided to raise the alert level for the disease by one notch to "caution" from Thursday.