The World Health Organization declared the monkeypox outbreak on Saturday an “emergency of international concern” – it is the highest alert level.
Geneva – The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries around the world to be an “emergency of international concern”. This was announced by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference on Saturday.
17,000 cases of monkeypox in 75 countries known: risk of infection in Europe “high”
Monkeypox virus is a long-established disease, first identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970. But the virus is currently behaving differently than it used to. The disease is endemic in West and Central African countries, outside of which it only occurred occasionally before 2021. Around 17,000 cases of monkeypox have already been registered in 75 countries worldwide.
The fact that the disease is spreading to other parts of the world is new. As well as the fact that the transmission apparently only occurs from person to person. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), there are currently around 2,200 cases of monkeypox in Germany (as of July 21, 2022). Europe is currently the only area in the world where the risk of infection is rated as high from the WHO perspective.
WHO decision: what exactly does an “emergency of international concern” mean?
During the coronavirus pandemic, but also during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2013, the WHO was accused of reacting too late. Now the WHO declared an “emergency of international concern” on Saturday. The classification is intended to raise the awareness of the member countries, but has no direct practical consequences, because the governments themselves decide on any measures in their countries. However, it is the authority’s highest alert level for a health threat.
At the end of June, the World Health Organization put together a panel of experts to assess the danger posed by the monkeypox virus. As recently as June, the experts had advised against declaring an emergency. The WHO emergency committee met again on Thursday. To justify the current decision, a WHO statement said there was “a clear risk” of further international spread. WHO chief Tedros was “concerned” about the global increase in cases. There is already a vaccination against smallpox. According to current knowledge, however, this only makes sense for people who are particularly at risk or for people who have come into contact with people infected with monkeypox – but not across the board as with the corona virus (AFP / dpa / bme) .
