The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that the expanding Monkeypox outbreak - which has hit more than 70 countries - is an 'extraordinary' situation which now qualifies as a global emergency.
The United Nations health agency's declaration could in-turn spur on further investment in treating the once-rare disease, and also worsen the scramble for already-scarce vaccines.
Although Monkeypox has been established in parts of central and west Africa for decades now, it was not known to typically spark large outbreaks beyond the continent, or spread widely among people until May this year.
Read more: List of UK areas with new suspected monkeypox cases - including one in South Tyneside
It was in this month that authorities detected dozens of epidemics across Europe, North America and further afield.
The declaration of a global emergency confirms that the Monkeypox outbreak is an 'extraordinary event' which could even spill into more countries, and therefore needs a coordinated global response. The WHO previously declared emergencies for public health crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, the Zika virus in Latin America in 2016 and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio.
The emergency declaration mostly serves as a plea to draw more global resources and attention to an outbreak.
Read next:
- 'Urgent need' for monkeypox antiviral studies according to research from team including Newcastle infectious disease experts
Monkeypox patient hits out at 'farcical' contract tracers after being struck by virus
'Victorian diseases' like gout, tuberculosis and measles are at 5-year high in the North East
Cases of covid-19 rising across all four UK nations as experts blame Omicron variants
Monkeypox cases triple around the world but spread is not 'endemic', health experts say
