British agencies secure funds to develop standard monkeypox tools

Until this year, the viral disease has rarely spread outside Africa where it is endemic. But reports of a handful of cases in the UK in early May signalled that the outbreak had moved into Europe [File: Dado Ruvic/Reuters]

British health agencies have secured $375,000 to develop tools for a standardised approach to test the performance of vaccines against monkeypox.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which allocated the fundings, made the announcement on Tuesday, a few days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the virus a public health emergency of international concern.