WHO considers public health emergency over mpox outbreak in Africa

A colourised transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles ((NIAID/AP)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) will convene an expert group to determine if the increasing spread of the mpox virus in Africa warrants being declared a global emergency.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing in Geneva that, given the increasing spread of mpox cases beyond Congo, he has decided to ask independent experts to advise WHO “as soon as possible”.