This is good news on the disease control front. The World Health Organization deemed Tuesday “encouraging” Signs of slowing monkeypox epidemic in Europe which are going “in the right direction”, calling for further strengthening of the efforts undertaken.
“Some encouraging early signs, like those observed in France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and other countries indicate that the epidemic may be slowing down,” WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said during a a press conference. “It’s going in the right direction,” he said. However, “to make progress towards elimination in our region, we must urgently scale up our efforts”.
In the 53 countries in the region, which includes Russia and countries in Central Asia, more than 22,000 cases have been recorded in 43 countries, accounting for more than a third of the global number of infections. Last week, the WHO reported a 21% reduction in new cases worldwide following four consecutive weeks of increases.
To eliminate the circulation of the virus in Europe, the WHO recommends maintaining surveillance measures, targeted vaccination, identification of contact cases and engagement with the male homosexual community, where the virus mainly circulates. Hans Kluge cited the example of Portugal, where “in the absence of a full-fledged vaccination campaign, we managed to curb the increase in the number of cases through behavioral change and engagement with communities”.
