OTTAWA, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) on Thursday confirmed 10 more cases of monkeypox in Canada.

       PHAC said in a statement that in addition to the previously reported 16 confirmed cases in Quebec, there are now 26 confirmed cases in Canada which broke down into 25 in Quebec and one in Ontario.

       According to the statement, it is likely that additional cases will be reported in the coming days as PHAC's National Microbiology Laboratory is continuing to receive samples for confirmatory testing from multiple jurisdictions.

       Human cases of monkeypox have been recently reported in over 20 countries worldwide.

       Monkeypox is a sylvatic zoonosis that may cause infections in humans and the disease usually occurs in forested parts of Central and West Africa. It is caused by the monkeypox virus which belongs to the orthopoxvirus family, according to the World Health Organization.