Monkeypox cases globally pass 18,000: WHO
Geneva/UNI: More than 18,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported worldwide, with a tenth of patients requiring hospitalization, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
"More than 18,000 cases of monkeypox have now been reported to WHO from 78 countries with more than 70% of cases reported from the European region and 25% from the region of the Americas," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing in Geneva.
Monkeypox is typically a non-life-threatening disease but children, the elderly and people with underlying conditions may be at risk of serious complications. Five people have died of monkeypox this year, all of them in Africa.
"So far 5 deaths have been reported and about 10% of cases are admitted to hospital to manage the pain caused by the disease," Tedros said further.
The number of infections worldwide has grown almost six times over a month, leading the WHO director-general to declare the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" on Saturday.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.