Both the United Kingdom—the first epicenter of the monkeypox outbreak—and the United States—home to the largest case count—have released new technical reports that show monkeypox cases are declining.

In the United States, the doubling time for the outbreak has stretched to 25 days, from an average of 8 days throughout July.

The reports come as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights cases involving atypical symptoms and false-positive tests, indicating monkeypox when the patients did not have the disease.

UK points to behavior changes, saturation

In Britain, new cases are falling steadily, which the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said may be due to several factors, but not solely the national vaccination strategy. Instead, the UKHSA said the decline could be due to behavior changes, proper diagnosis, and saturation of the at-risk population.

"It is likely that some combination of these 3 factors has contributed so far, and vaccines will play a larger role in coming weeks," the UKHSA said in the report.

Only 43 UK women been infected with the virus, with 99% of confirmed cases occurring in men. A total of 3,239 cases have been recorded in the country, with 70% of patients in England residing in London.