Cases have climbed, slot causing concern, but the World Health Organization says we have the tools to bring the outbreak under control.
The World Health Organization on Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency, as the number of cases, and countries reporting them, has climbed over the last month.
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little,” WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference.
Tedros said there are now more than 16,000 reported cases from 75 countries, up from 3,040 reported cases from 47 countries a month ago. Five people have died as a result of the current outbreak,
Tedros said. About 2,900 cases have been confirmed throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.