The World Health Organization reported more than 3,200 cases of monkeypox and one death as part of the current outbreak.
Surveillance in the community at large needs to be stepped up, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday, adding that cases in non-endemic countries were still predominantly among men who have sex with men.
“Person-to-person transmission is ongoing and probably underestimated,” Tedros said at a meeting of the Emergency Committee on International Health Regulations (2005).
Read more: WHO will discuss declaration of monkeypox outbreak as a global health emergency
The expert meeting was convened by the WHO to decide whether to declare monkeypox as a global health emergency.
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A “public health emergency of international interest” is the WHO’s highest level of alert. Forty-eight countries have reported cases in the current outbreak, which began in May.
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There have been nearly 1,500 suspected cases of smallpox this year in Central Africa and 70 deaths, Tedros said.
The WHO chief called on member states to share information about the virus, as it would help the agency in its goal of helping countries contain the transmission.
– Report by Mrinalika Roy in Bangalore