Monkeypox cases have tripled across Europe in the past two weeks, latest data has revealed. Dr Hans Henri P Kluge, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) regional director for Europe, has intensified calls for governments to "scale up efforts" in the coming weeks and months to prevent the rare infection from establishing itself across a "growing geographical area".
He stressed that "urgent and coordinated action" was needed for Europe to turn a corner in the race to reverse the ongoing spread of this disease. Public Health Wales, in its latest update on June 27, confirmed there are nine cases of monkeypox in Wales which are being "managed appropriately".
As of June 26, there were 1,076 laboratory-confirmed cases in the UK. Of these, 27 were in Scotland, five were in Northern Ireland, nine were in Wales and 1,035 were in England. Monkeypox was added to the list of notifiable diseases by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) this week. These are infectious diseases, such as measles, scarlet fever, and whooping cough, which have to be reported to local authorities or local health protection teams.
