Monkeypox still global health emergency: WHO

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Monkeypox should remain listed as a global health emergency, the World Health Organization's emergency committee ruled on Tuesday.

The experts "maintained the consensus view that the incident continues to meet the... criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern" after a discussion on the virus that rapidly began spreading throughout the globe in May, as per a statement from WHO.

The so-called PHEIC, the highest level of alarm set by the UN health agency, was initially announced on July 23. 

Experts indicated that while some progress had been achieved in containing the disease, it was still too soon to declare the emergency finished.

The announcement added that WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has acknowledged and concurred with the experts' recommendations.

Since monkeypox unexpectedly began spreading beyond the West African countries where it has long been endemic six months ago, it has killed 36 people out of more than 77,000 cases across 109 countries, as per a WHO count.

However, the number of cases of the illness, which causes fever, muscle aches, and huge boil-like skin lesions, has steadily decreased since July, most notably in Europe and North America, the hardest hit regions in the early phases of the global outbreak.

There were 41% fewer new cases worldwide in the seven days leading up to Monday than there was the week before, according to WHO.

They cited ongoing transmission in some areas, ongoing readiness, and response disparities within and between nations, not to mention the possibility of more serious health effects if the virus spreads more quickly among people that are already more vulnerable.

They also emphasized the ongoing danger of stigma and prejudice, the underreporting of cases caused by shoddy health systems in some developing nations, and the unequal distribution of access to vaccinations, antivirals, and diagnostics.