GENEVA, May 11. /TASS/. World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has declared the end of the mpox global health emergency.
Speaking at a briefing in Geneva on Thursday, he justified the move by citing the significant drop in cases compared to July last year, when the global health emergency was declared.
"Yesterday, the emergency committee for mpox met and recommended to me that the multi-country outbreak of mpox no longer represents a public health emergency of international concern," the WHO chief pointed out. "I have accepted that advice and I’m pleased to declare that mpox is no longer a global health emergency," he added.
He noted that there had been a 90% drop in reported cases in the past three months compared to the previous 90 days.
"We now see steady progress in controlling the outbreak based on the lessons of HIV and working closely with the most affected communities," the official said.
According to him, in total, 111 countries reported over 87,000 mpox cases and 140 fatalities to the WHO.
The organization’s head emphasized that the announcement of the end of the mpox global health emergency did not mean "that the work is over." "Mpox continues to pose significant public health challenges that need a robust, proactive and sustainable response," he explained.
Mpox is a rare viral infection that occurs primarily in remote tropical rainforest areas of central and western Africa. According to the WHO, the virus is transmitted to humans via animals such as rodents and monkeys, while human-to-human transmission is limited. The case fatality ratio of mpox ranges from 1% to 10% with most deaths reported in younger age groups.