The World Health Organization on Friday called for “urgent action” against monkeypox in Europe, in the face of the tripling of cases observed for two weeks on the continent. In a statement, the regional director of the health organization called on European countries to “increase their efforts in the coming weeks and months to prevent monkeypox from taking hold in a larger geographical area”, while the Europe now has more than 4,500 laboratory-confirmed cases, or 90% of the cases recorded worldwide since mid-May.
Epicenter of this new contagion, Europe now has 31 countries or territories that have reported cases of monkey pox. “Urgent and coordinated action is imperative if we are to change course in the race against the spread of the disease,” said WHO Europe director Hans Kluge. WHO experts on Saturday considered the outbreak of cases as a health threat whose evolution was very worrying, but without reaching the stage of a global health emergency for the moment.