Zürcher Nachrichten - WHO to say if it will trigger highest alert on monkeypox

EUR -
AED 3.82096
AFN 72.95795
ALL 98.661714
AMD 411.511459
ANG 1.877014
AOA 948.73034
ARS 1067.056125
AUD 1.666545
AWG 1.872494
AZN 1.771352
BAM 1.958698
BBD 2.102991
BDT 124.462962
BGN 1.955092
BHD 0.392322
BIF 3079.326649
BMD 1.040274
BND 1.413464
BOB 7.212221
BRL 6.445753
BSD 1.041506
BTN 88.703395
BWP 14.405692
BYN 3.408043
BYR 20389.374639
BZD 2.094679
CAD 1.495654
CDF 2985.587061
CHF 0.934801
CLF 0.037342
CLP 1030.37048
CNY 7.591877
CNH 7.603151
COP 4589.689842
CRC 528.882548
CUC 1.040274
CUP 27.567267
CVE 110.42733
CZK 25.140322
DJF 184.877592
DKK 7.460384
DOP 63.191373
DZD 140.258299
EGP 53.137492
ERN 15.604113
ETB 132.577882
FJD 2.412552
FKP 0.823878
GBP 0.830144
GEL 2.923419
GGP 0.823878
GHS 15.309696
GIP 0.823878
GMD 74.899648
GNF 8998.227508
GTQ 8.024797
GYD 217.888779
HKD 8.082811
HNL 26.456145
HRK 7.461789
HTG 136.191512
HUF 412.656077
IDR 16890.51634
ILS 3.816574
IMP 0.823878
INR 88.526555
IQD 1364.405694
IRR 43782.54872
ISK 145.107732
JEP 0.823878
JMD 162.589008
JOD 0.737659
JPY 163.530588
KES 134.622118
KGS 90.504093
KHR 4176.999707
KMF 484.897784
KPW 936.246213
KRW 1511.221987
KWD 0.320611
KYD 0.867947
KZT 543.333931
LAK 22790.297087
LBP 93264.16857
LKR 308.396311
LRD 189.555004
LSL 19.1939
LTL 3.071659
LVL 0.629252
LYD 5.114568
MAD 10.479005
MDL 19.17354
MGA 4910.170813
MKD 61.498942
MMK 3378.770076
MNT 3534.851652
MOP 8.334912
MRU 41.473967
MUR 48.736726
MVR 16.021999
MWK 1806.037537
MXN 21.00156
MYR 4.671866
MZN 66.477402
NAD 19.1939
NGN 1611.395012
NIO 38.326709
NOK 11.821411
NPR 141.920851
NZD 1.842971
OMR 0.400511
PAB 1.041476
PEN 3.884948
PGK 4.225252
PHP 60.918978
PKR 290.199386
PLN 4.266137
PYG 8131.030881
QAR 3.797082
RON 4.975736
RSD 116.998606
RUB 105.300239
RWF 1442.444148
SAR 3.907617
SBD 8.721196
SCR 14.50713
SDG 625.721598
SEK 11.494354
SGD 1.412021
SHP 0.823878
SLE 23.72519
SLL 21814.033329
SOS 595.275062
SRD 36.537536
STD 21531.575972
SVC 9.113485
SYP 2613.72043
SZL 19.188392
THB 35.694956
TJS 11.378124
TMT 3.651362
TND 3.317108
TOP 2.436424
TRY 36.681843
TTD 7.074468
TWD 33.999074
TZS 2504.46173
UAH 43.776352
UGX 3827.62666
USD 1.040274
UYU 46.598949
UZS 13437.753668
VES 53.649239
VND 26474.978804
VUV 123.503438
WST 2.874057
XAF 656.900551
XAG 0.035013
XAU 0.000398
XCD 2.811393
XDR 0.798474
XOF 656.922685
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.458683
ZAR 19.29381
ZMK 9363.723842
ZMW 28.822846
ZWL 334.967873
  • NGG

    0.5200

    59.02

    +0.88%

  • RELX

    0.1200

    45.59

    +0.26%

  • SCS

    -0.0900

    11.65

    -0.77%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0200

    7.25

    -0.28%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    60.5

    0%

  • RIO

    0.5900

    59.23

    +1%

  • CMSD

    -0.0100

    23.55

    -0.04%

  • CMSC

    0.0420

    23.902

    +0.18%

  • AZN

    1.2800

    66.63

    +1.92%

  • GSK

    0.4600

    34.06

    +1.35%

  • BTI

    -0.0200

    36.22

    -0.06%

  • BCC

    -0.5100

    122.24

    -0.42%

  • BCE

    -0.3200

    22.84

    -1.4%

  • VOD

    -0.0200

    8.37

    -0.24%

  • BP

    0.1500

    28.75

    +0.52%

  • JRI

    0.0400

    12.1

    +0.33%

WHO to say if it will trigger highest alert on monkeypox
WHO to say if it will trigger highest alert on monkeypox / Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI - AFP/File

WHO to say if it will trigger highest alert on monkeypox

Faced with a surge in monkeypox cases, the head of the World Health Organization is Saturday expected to declare if the agency has decided to classify the outbreak as a global health emergency -- the highest alarm it can sound.

Text size:

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will address a virtual press conference at 1300 GMT, the WHO announced in a statement late Friday.

It did not reveal what would be announced.

Monkeypox has affected over 15,800 people in 72 countries, according to a tally by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published on July 20.

A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.

On June 23, the WHO convened an emergency committee (EC) of experts to decide if monkeypox constitutes a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) -- the UN health agency's highest alert level.

But a majority advised the Tedros that the situation, at that point, had not met the threshold.

The second meeting was called on Thursday with case numbers rising further, where Tedros said he was worried.

"I need your advice in assessing the immediate and mid-term public health implications," Tedros told the meeting, which lasted more than six hours.

A US health expert sounded a grim warning late Friday.

"Since the last #monkeypox EC just weeks ago we've seen an exponential rise in cases. It’s inevitable that cases will dramatically rise in the coming weeks & months. That’s why @DrTedros must sound the global alarm," Lawrence Gostin, the director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, said on Twitter.

"A failure to act will have grave consequences for global health."

- Warning against discrimination -

A viral infection resembling smallpox and first detected in humans in 1970, monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.

Ninety-five percent of cases have been transmitted through sexual activity, according to a study of 528 people in 16 countries published in the New England Journal of Medicine -- the largest research to date.

Overall, 98 percent of infected people were gay or bisexual men, and around a third were known to have visited sex-on-site venues such as sex parties or saunas within the previous month.

"This transmission pattern represents both an opportunity to implement targeted public health interventions, and a challenge because in some countries, the communities affected face life-threatening discrimination," Tedros said, citing concern that stigma and scapegoating could make the outbreak harder to track.

"I am acutely aware that any decision I take regarding the possible determination of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern involves the consideration of many factors, with the ultimate goal of protecting public health," he added.

The European Union's drug watchdog on Friday recommended for approval the use of Imnavex, a smallpox vaccine, to treat monkeypox.

Imvanex, developed by Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic, has been approved in the EU since 2013 for the prevention of smallpox.

It was also considered a potential vaccine for monkeypox because of the similarity between the monkeypox virus and the smallpox virus.

The first symptoms of monkeypox are fever, headaches, muscle pain and back pain during the course of five days.

Rashes subsequently appear on the face, the palms of hands and soles of feet, followed by lesions, spots and finally scabs.

O.Meier--NZN