The World Health Organisation has announced that the outbreak of the mpox virus, which occurred across multiple countries and commenced approximately one year ago, no longer meets the criteria to be classified as a public health emergency of international concern.
According to The PUNCH, this was stated by the WHO Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, while speaking to journalists in Geneva, Switzerland.
Mpox is a milder cousin of the now-extinct smallpox virus. It is indigenous to portions of West and Central Africa and is usually spread by rodents or small mammals. Contact with contaminated body fluids, lesions, or items such as clothing and bedding can spread the virus. It can also be passed from person to person via respiratory droplets in a close environment.
“The emergency committee for mpox met and recommended to me that the multi-country outbreak of mpox no longer represents a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice and I’m pleased to declare that mpox is no longer a global health emergency.
“However, as with COVID-19, that does not mean that the work is over. Mpox continues to pose significant public health challenges that need a robust, proactive and sustainable response,” he said.
On May 5, 2023, the PUNCH reported that WHO declared COVID-19 no longer a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) after more than three years of calling the epidemic a PHEIC in January 2020, just six weeks before characterising it as a pandemic.
According to the DG, there have been over 87,000 cases of Mpox, with 140 deaths reported to the organisation from 111 different countries.
Notwithstanding, Ghebreyesus urged nations to sustain their testing capacity and agility to promptly address forthcoming outbreaks.
