Monkeypox officially declared a global health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday declared monkeypox a global health emergency, its highest alert level for a disease.

WHO Chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said the decision has been made despite an advisory body’s failure to agree on the designation.

With nine members of the expert committee members against the move and six in favor, Tedros said his decision acted as a “tiebreaker.” He said more than 16,000 cases and five deaths have been reported in 75 countries and territories.

“WHO’s assessment is that the risk of monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions, except in the European region where we assess the risk as high,” said Tedros.

“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little. There is also a clear risk of further spread globally, although the risk of interference with international traffic remains low,” he added.

For those reasons, Tedros said he decided that the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.