WHO declares monkeypox global health emergency

The World Health Organisation on Saturday officially declared the monkeypox disease as a global health emergency.

The WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, made the declaration during a press conference held at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

A data released by the United Nations’ body early this month revealed that about 20,000 cases of monkeypox had been reported across more than 70 countries so far this year.

The Ethiopian said the decision followed the rise in cases of the Monkeypox virus across the world in the last few weeks.

First discovered in monkeys in 1958, monkeypox is a viral disease affecting rodents and primates in rainforest areas of West and Central Africa, related to smallpox and sometimes transmitted to humans.

Read also:NCDC calls for caution as monkeypox cases soar, decries misinformation

Nigeria has recorded 101 confirmed cases this year, according to the centre for disease control (NCDC).

Ghebreyesus said: “We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little.

“For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.”

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