WHO Declares Monkeypox an International Health Emergency

An exponential rise in monkeypox cases worldwide, has led to the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify the outbreak as a global health emergency.

RELATED:

WHO Reports Monkeypox Cases Increase to 14 000 Worldwide

The decision to declare an international emergency was announced at a press conference by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

With monkeypox cases on the rise worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided on Saturday to classify the outbreak as a global health emergency.

This same committee had opted to not declare an emergency at a first meeting held in June (when the number of cases was 3,000), and on this occasion, according to Tedros, there was no total consensus among the experts either.

However, this Saturday the director general has decided to declare the emergency in view of the high and growing number of cases in various regions around the globe, stating that the risk worldwide is relatively moderate, except in Europe, where it is high.

Among the criteria, used by the WHO to declare this emergency, is the fact that "the virus is transmitting rapidly in many countries where there were no cases before".

The head of the WHO also indicated that the risk of monkeypox infection has been raised to a "high" level in Europe, where 80% of the cases are concentrated, while the level remains "moderate" in the rest of the regions, including Africa, where the disease has been endemic for decades.