Over 6,000 cases of monkeypox reported from 58 countries, WHO to reconvene emergency committee
PremiumMore than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 58 countries.
More than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 58 countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) will reconvene emergency committee week of 18 july or sooner.
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced during a virtual news conference from Geneva that the WHO will call a meeting of the committee that will advise on declaring the epidemic a global health emergency, the highest degree of alert, in the week beginning July 18 or earlier.
The committee ruled that the outbreak, which has seen cases rise both in the African nations where it typically spreads and abroad, was not yet a health emergency at its previous meeting on June 27.
"I continue to be concerned by the scale and spread of the virus across the world," Tedros said, adding that a lack of testing meant that there were likely many more cases going unreported.
According to Tedros, Europe accounts for over 80% of the cases. Since the beginning of May, monkeypox, a typically mild viral infection that results in flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, has been spreading throughout the world. The present strain has a fatality rate that has been around 1% in prior outbreaks.