U.K. health authorities have urged anyone who tests positive for the monkeypox virus to abstain from sex until their symptoms have cleared.

In new guidance released Monday, the U.K. Health Security Agency also recommended that previously infected persons continue to use condoms for a period of eight weeks after the virus has passed, as a precautionary measure.

The advice comes after Britain recorded an additional 71 cases of the virus over the weekend, bringing the U.K. total to 179 less than a month after its first case was on May 7.

The U.K. now has the highest monkeypox case count among nonendemic countries, followed by Spain with 120 and Portugal with 96.

As of Monday, there were 555 confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox in countries outside of Africa, according to Our World in Data.

Monkeypox is a rare infectious disease typically found in Central and West African countries. Symptoms include rashes, fever, headaches, muscle ache, swelling and backpain.

The majority of cases so far have been spread through sex, with a particular concentration of cases occurring within the gay and bisexual communities and men who have sex with men, according to the World Health Organization.

The public health body said Monday that it was not yet clear whether the recent outbreak could lead to a global pandemic but said that there is currently a window of opportunity to curb rising cases.

“Collectively, the world has an opportunity to stop this outbreak. There is a window,” Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for monkeypox, said during a briefing.

The WHO also said it is currently considering whether the outbreak should be assessed as a “potential public health emergency of international concern.” Such a declaration was done for the Covid-19 and Ebola outbreaks, and would enable additional research and funding to contain the disease, it noted.