The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified monkeypox as a public health emergency of international concern.
“According to the WHO assessment, the risk of monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions except the European region, where we estimate the risk to be high,” said the director. WHO General Tedros Ghebreyesus during a virtual press conference from Geneva on Saturday.
He further cited an “obvious” risk of international spread, although the risk of interference with international traffic remains low at this time.
“In summary, we are in the presence of an epidemic which has spread rapidly throughout the world, by new modes of transmission, of which we do not know much, and which meets the criteria of the International Health Regulations”, said the head of the WHO.
Under the International Health Regulations, WHO management considers a range of factors when deciding whether an outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.
This is the information provided by countries – which in this case shows that this virus has spread rapidly to many countries that have never seen it before, the opinion of the Emergency Committee, the scientific principles, evidence and other relevant information as well as the risk to human health, global spread and risk of interference with international traffic, according to the UN agency.
With MAP
