The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday called for “urgent action” to tackle monkeypox in Europe, where cases have tripled in the past two weeks.
In a statement, the regional director of the health organization called on European countries to “increase their efforts in the coming weeks and months to prevent monkeypox from taking hold in a larger geographical area”.
“Urgent and coordinated action is imperative if we are to change course in the race once morest the spread of the disease,” said WHO Europe director Hans Kluge.
An explosion of cases
According to data from the UN agency, Europe now has more than 4,500 laboratory-confirmed cases, three times more than in mid-June. This corresponds to 90% of the cases recorded in the world since mid-May, when this disease until then endemic only in ten African countries began to multiply in Europe.
Epicenter of this new contagion, Europe now has 31 countries or territories that have reported cases of monkey pox.
WHO experts on Saturday considered the outbreak of cases as a health threat whose evolution was very worrying, but without reaching the stage of a global health emergency for the moment. Despite this decision, “the rapid evolution and urgent nature of this event means that the committee [d’experts] will reconsider its position shortly,” says WHO Europe.
ats / iar
