WHO chief says monkeypox is now a global emergency

The head of the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency on Saturday. 

UN health agency Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the announcement after the WHO’s expert committee couldn’t reach a consensus on whether to apply the highest level of alert to the virus.

The “global emergency” designation may help spur more investment in combatting the disease amid a scramble for scarce vaccines, USA Today reported. 

There is “a clear risk of further international spread,” Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

“So in short, we have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little,” he said. 

“… For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.”

Symptoms of the disease begin to appear seven to 14 days after exposure and include fever, muscle aches, exhaustion and a rash that can appear on the body. 

So far, monkeypox deaths have only been reported in Africa, where a more dangerous version of the virus is spreading.

Last month, 3,040 monkeypox cases had been reported in 47 countries. Since then, the outbreak has ballooned to more than 16,000 reported cases in more than 70 countries. 

In the meantime, the officials of Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan have said about the preparation of the Ministry to prevent this virus, saying that no positive sample of this virus has been registered in the country so far.

In addition, this ministry said that it would quarantine suspicious people at the borders of the country.

“We have our own measures to prevent this virus, and most of these cases are transmitted as a result of travel, and we have considered appropriate quarantine places for infected people,” said Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the health ministry.