MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - JUNE 19: A doctor saves a package of samples of people with symptoms of COVID-19 to be sent to a laboratory at Central de Abastos on June 19, 2020 in Mexico City, Mexico. The temporary unit receives people with symptoms related to the coronavirus disease, patients are evaluated and redirected to a hospital if necessary. The Central de Abasto is the largest market in Mexico and Latin America, boasting financial transaction volumes only surpassed by The Mexican Stock Exchange. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
EDITOR’S PICK:
EKO HOT BLOG reports that the rising monkey pox outbreak prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to activate its highest alert level on Saturday, designating the virus as a public health emergency of global significance.
The spread of monkey pox to more than 70 nations, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is an unusual circumstance that now qualifies as a global emergency.
In a series of post on it Twitter page, WHO said the declaration could spur further investment in treating the once-rare disease and worsen the scramble for scarce vaccines.
The U.N. agency declined last month to declare a global emergency in response to monkeypox. But infections have increased substantially over the past several weeks, pushing Ghebreyesus to issue the highest alert before a global health emergency is declared, the WHO’s emergency committee meets to weigh the evidence and make a recommendation to the director general.
The committee was unable to reach a consensus on whether monkey pox constitutes an emergency.
Ghebreyesus made the decision to issue the highest alert based on the rapid spread of the outbreak around the world.
He said: “We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little,” Tedros said. “For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.”
More than 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported across more than 70 countries so far this year, and the number of confirmed infections rose 77% from late June through early July, according to WHO data. Men who have sex with men are currently at highest risk of infection.
Meanwhile, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in 2022, there have been 117 cases of monkeypox in Nigeria with three deaths.
On July 19, the Borno State Ministry of Health reported four cases of monkeypox infections.
FURTHER READING:
The State Director of Public Health, Lawi Mshelia, was said to have confirmed the development, noting that of the four suspected cases discovered, three were confirmed positive by the NCDC.
Mr Mshelia added that two of the positive cases were reported from the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital where he said they were receiving treatment.
Also, five deaths from the virus have been reported in Africa this year.
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