Monkeypox is declared a global health emergency

the World Health Organisation () declared the spread of a “public health emergency of international concern”, the highest level of alert in its hierarchy of warnings. The committee advising Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the ’s director-general, did not reach a consensus on whether to elevate monkeypox to that level, with six of its members in favour of doing so and the remaining nine opposed. Nonetheless, Dr Tedros decided to declare an emergency. He hopes that global efforts to curb the spread of the virus will now intensify. The designation gives the more power to co-ordinate action to stop transmission. Until this year monkeypox was primarily a zoonotic disease confined to parts of Africa, where transmission happened mainly from infected animals to people who hunted or ate them. Person-to-person transmission was rare. In May, however, cases began popping up , alarmingly in people with no direct links to travel from Africa. The outbreak was sustained through transmission between humans–and spreading. By July 23rd there were more than 16,000 reported cases in 75 countries and territories.