As the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an international public health emergency for monkey pox, a viral infectious disease on the 23rd (local time), the government decided to hold a crisis situation assessment meeting this week to prepare countermeasures. The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued the highest alert level, considering that the current risk of monkeypox is moderate except in Europe, but there is an additional risk of spread.
Monkeypox is an endemic disease in Africa, but since the first non-African region confirmed in the UK in May this year, there have been 15,510 cases in 65 countries in Europe and the Americas by the 21st. Unlike Corona, the spread of the virus is not so severe that the number of patients has increased fivefold in just one month, even though the possibility of airborne infection rather than close contact is slim.
South Korea is not a safe zone, although no additional cases have been confirmed since a Korean man in his 30s who arrived from Germany on the 21st of last month was confirmed. During the summer vacation season, more and more tourists are visiting countries where monkey pox is endemic, such as Spain, the United States, Germany, England, France, and Italy. The number of foreigners entering Korea last month also tripled to 244,500 from a year ago, so the influx of additional patients is only a matter of time. Quarantine should be strengthened for foreign nationals and foreign nationals entering from areas where monkey pox is endemic, and in the event of a confirmed case, close contact tracing, diagnostic testing, and treatment systems should be quickly activated to prevent the spread of the disease in the community. The schedule for introducing a new vaccine with fewer side effects, scheduled for early next month, should not be disrupted.
Now that the sixth corona virus is in progress, it is even more burdensome to hit even monkey pox. On the 24th, there were 35,883 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, 1.4 times more than a week ago. There are also confirmed cases of centaur mutations with strong immune evasion properties. Experts recommend a booster vaccination for the high-risk group to avoid aggravation and death. While encouraging the fourth vaccination, it is necessary to speed up the introduction of an improved vaccine that has a high effect on infection prevention and the preparation of an vaccination strategy.
