The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. (PHEIC)
This is the highest alarm that the WHO can issue over a disease, and the declaration was made following a meeting of an emergency committee held on 21 July.
However, members of the committee failed to reach a consensus on whether monkeypox should be called a PHEIC, thus Dr Tedros made the declaration himself.
They noted that as of 20 July this year, there have been 14,533 cases of monkeypox across 72 countries, along with 5 deaths.
They also highlighted the fast spread of the disease, with only 3,040 cases across 47 countries back in May.
The disease has also been reported in countries that had never reported monkeypox.
Source: World Health Organization