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Xinhua News Agency, Geneva, August 14 (Reporter Zeng Yan) World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on the 14th that the monkeypox epidemic constitutes an "international public health emergency."

The WHO held an emergency committee meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) on the same day to discuss the surge in monkeypox cases in 2024. After the meeting, Tedros said at a press conference: "Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that the current situation constitutes an 'international public health emergency'. I adopted this advice."

Tedros said that the monkeypox epidemic has the potential to spread further in Africa and to other continents, which is very worrying. According to WHO data, more than 15,600 cases of monkeypox have been reported so far this year, exceeding the total number of cases last year, with 537 deaths.

The World Health Organization issued a communiqué on the same day saying that a new, more deadly strain of monkeypox virus is spreading rapidly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has spread to neighboring countries such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, where no cases of monkeypox have ever been reported.

On the 13th, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the monkeypox epidemic a public health emergency in Africa and called on African countries to take urgent action to prevent the continued spread of monkeypox on the African continent. Data released by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the 8th showed that at least 16 countries in Africa are currently affected by monkeypox; compared with the same period in 2023, the number of monkeypox cases reported in Africa this year has increased by 160%.

Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis. The initial symptoms of monkeypox in humans include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, and swollen lymph nodes, which can later develop into a large rash on the face and body. Most infected people recover within a few weeks, but some become seriously ill or even die. Since May 2022, more than 100 countries and regions around the world have reported cases of monkeypox. In July of the same year, the World Health Organization announced that the monkeypox epidemic constituted an "international public health emergency" and this status was not lifted until May 2023. (End)