Monkeypox is declared a global health emergency

The monkeypox outbreak has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of WHO, declared the emergency today, adding that although the risk was 'moderate' across the globe it was 'high' in Europe. It follows a worldwide upsurge in cases.

Following WHO's emergency committee meeting on the virus, he announced more than 16,000 cases have now been reported from 75 countries, including five deaths.

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Dr Tedros reportedly said the emergency committee had been unable to reach agreement on whether the monkeypox outbreak should be classified as a global health emergency. However, he said the outbreak had spread around the world rapidly and he, with a casting vote, had decided that it was indeed of international concern.

"The WHO's assessment is that the risk of monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions, except in the European region, where we assess the risk as high," he said, according to the BBC.

Although monkeypox has been established in parts of central and west Africa for decades, it was not known to spark large outbreaks beyond the continent or to spread widely among people until May, when authorities detected dozens of epidemics in Europe, North America and elsewhere.

Declaring a global emergency means the monkeypox outbreak is an “extraordinary event” that could spill over into more countries and requires a coordinated global response.

The WHO previously declared emergencies for public health crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, the Zika virus in Latin America in 2016 and the ongoing effort to eradicate