The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Friday it was maintaining its alert for the mpox outbreak at the highest level, as the number of cases and countries affected rises.
“The decision was based on the rising number and continuing geographic spread of cases, operational challenges in the field, and the need to mount and sustain a cohesive response across countries and partners,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
The WHO Director-General, following the advice of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee, has determined that the upsurge of mpox continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern,” the highest health alert level for the organization, first declared on August 14 this year.
First identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans, but is also transmitted between humans, causing fever, muscle pain and skin lesions.
The disease has recently been reported in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe, the USA and the UK in people returning from African countries affected by the virus.
Since the beginning of 2024, a total of 53,903 Mpox cases, including 11,147 confirmed and 1,109 deaths have been recorded in Africa, according to The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
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