The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that the outbreak of monkeypox in Africa is now a global health emergency, the highest level of warning that the body can issue.

Who, concerned about the increase in infections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the spread of the outbreak to neighboring countries, was quick to call a meeting of experts to look into the outbreak.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference, "today, the emergency committee met and informed me that from its point of view the situation is a global health emergency of international concern. I accepted this opinion".

A "public health emergency of international concern" is the highest warning level the World Health Organization can issue.

"The detection of a new strain of monkeypox and its rapid outbreak in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, its monitoring in neighboring countries that have not previously reported cases of it, and the possibility of a larger outbreak in Africa and further afield is of great concern,"Ghebreyesus said.

"It is clear that a coordinated international response is necessary to stop the outbreak and save lives," he added, noting that everyone should be involved.

At the beginning of the meeting of the emergency committee, he said that "the emergence and rapid spread of the 1B strain (of the virus) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which seems to spread especially through sexual networks, and its monitoring in neighboring countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is very worrying and one of the main reasons behind my decision to hold a meeting of this emergency committee."

Symptoms of the disease

The decision came after the health authority of the African Union announced on Tuesday a public health emergency due to the outbreak of Monkey Pox (empox) on the continent.

The outbreak occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the virus was first detected in humans in 1970, and has spread to other countries.

Ghebreyesus reported that the numbers of infections amounting to more than 14 thousand cases and 524 deaths registered so far this year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo exceeded the total recorded last year.

Mpox is an illness caused by the monkeypox virus. It is a viral infection which can spread between people, mainly through close contact, and occasionally from the environment to people via things and surfaces that have been touched by a person with mpox.