LOS ANGELES (Xinhua) -- A US federal health official has warned that the number of monkeypox cases in the country will continue to rise until at least August.

As of Friday, a total of 1,814 confirmed cases of the virus had been reported in the country, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The data showed that New York ranked first in terms of the number of cases, with 489 cases, followed by California, with 266 cases, and then Illinois, with 174 cases.

"Now that we're watching cases closely, I'd like you all to understand that we can expect an increase in cases in the coming weeks" as testing advances and it becomes easier for states to report new cases to the Biden administration, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Friday.

"We know that symptoms of monkeypox usually begin within three weeks of exposure to the virus," Walensky said.

So we expect to see an increase in cases throughout July through August."