The World Health Organization (WHO) said the escalating monkeypox outbreak in more than 50 countries should be closely monitored as an “evolving health threat” but does not warrant being declared a global health emergency.
A WHO emergency committee said in a statement on Saturday that many aspects of the outbreak were “unusual,” and that monkeypox, which is endemic in some African countries, had been neglected for years.
“While a few members expressed differing views, the committee resolved by consensus to advise the WHO director-general that at this stage the outbreak should be determined to not constitute,” a global health emergency, WHO said in a statement.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the committee shared “serious concerns about the scale and speed of the current outbreak,” which, he said, spans more than 50 countries, with some 3,000 cases since early May.
“What makes the current outbreak especially concerning is the rapid, continuing spread into new countries and regions and the risk of further, sustained transmission into vulnerable populations including people that are immunocompromised, pregnant women and children,” the WHO chief said.
The committee agreed the outbreak requires “coordinated action” to stop the further spread of the monkeypox virus using public health measures, including surveillance, contact-tracing, isolation and care of patients.
Monkeypox has sickened people for decades in central and West Africa, but until last month, the disease had not been known to cause significant outbreaks in multiple countries at the same time and involving people with no travel links to the continent.
Declaring a global health emergency means that a health crisis is an “extraordinary” event requiring a globally-managed response and that a disease is at high risk of spilling across borders. WHO previously made similar declarations for diseases including COVID-19, Ebola in Congo and West Africa, Zika in Brazil and the ongoing effort to wipe out polio.
The decision comes as the outbreak of the disease related to smallpox continues to spread, affecting at least 4,100 people in 46 countries as of June 24.
