<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that 5,322 laboratory-confirmed cases of monkeypox had been reported to it in the current outbreak, 85% of which are in Europe.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Though case numbers are rapidly increasing, the UN health agency has not set a date for its emergency committee on monkeypox to convene for a second meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>“From Jan 1 to June 30 this year, we have 5,322 laboratory-confirmed cases and one death,” WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters in Geneva.</div><div><br></div><div>The number has increased by 56% in eight days. The previous figure given by the WHO, for the period up to June 22, was 3,413 cases.</div><div><br></div><div>A surge in monkeypox cases has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.</div><div><br></div><div>Chaib said infections had now been reported in 53 countries.</div><div><br></div><div>“Eighty-five percent of cases are in Europe, followed by the African region, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Pacific,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>“WHO continues to ask countries to pay particular attention to monkeypox cases to try to stop further infections.”</div><div><br></div><div>Most monkeypox infections so far have been observed in men who have sex with men, of young age and chiefly in urban areas, according to WHO.</div><div><br></div><div>The normal initial symptoms of monkeypox include a high fever, swollen lymph nodes and a blistery chickenpox-like rash.</div><div><br></div><div>On June 23, the UN health agency convened an emergency committee of experts to decide if monkeypox constitutes a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) — the highest alarm that WHO can sound.</div><div><br></div><div>But a majority found the situation had not yet crossed that threshold.</div><div><br></div><div>However, they acknowledged the emergency nature of the outbreak and said controlling its further spread required intense response efforts.</div><div><br></div><div>The committee can reconvene at any time, depending on the changing situation.</div><div><br></div><div>WHO’s 16-member emergency committee on monkeypox is chaired by Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is a former director of WHO’s Vaccines and Immunisation Department. Source: AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>