WHO declares mpox outbreak a global health emergency

The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global health emergency. Mpox is a highly infectious disease that used to be called monkeypox.

The WHO convened its emergency mpox committee amid concerns that a deadlier strain of the virus, clade Ib, had reached four previously unaffected provinces in Africa.

This strain had previously been contained to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 13,700 cases and 450 deaths have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The virus, which can cause lesions across the whole body, has spread to other African countries, including Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR), Kenya and Rwanda.