WHO declares mpox outbreak a global health emergency

Geneva, SANA- The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the outbreak of monkeypox in Africa is now a global health emergency, the highest alarm level it can issue.

“This is something that should concern us all … The potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” AFP agency quoted the organization’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, as saying in a statement Wednesday.

He added that during the past month, about 90 cases of strain clade 1b were recorded in four countries neighboring DRC,that had not recorded cases of “mpox” in the past, namely Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, explaining that the number of monkeypox infections in the Congo has reached more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths recorded so far this year.

The African Union’s health body announced yesterday a public health emergency over the outbreak of monkeypox “mpox” on the continent.

Manar Salameh

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