Mpox virus outbreak: African countries say travel bans are unfair as WHO declares global health emergency

Thailand has confirmed a case of MPOX in a European who arrived from Africa last week. Test results are awaiting to determine the strain, a disease control official said.

Thai authorities treated the case as if it were the Clade 1 form of Mpox because the person had arrived on August 14 from an African country where the disease was spreading, said Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director general of the Department of Disease Control Reuters.

African health authorities urged the international community not to impose travel bans on countries where MPOX outbreaks occur.

Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC, said: “Don't punish Africa. We hear from here and there that you want to impose travel bans, we need solidarity, we need your appropriate support, this vaccine is expensive.”

“I urge our partners to stop thinking about travel bans against Africa. That would take us back to the unfair treatment of the Covid era and would not help the world move forward.”

Mr Kaseya hopes vaccines will soon arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak is believed to have originated.

He added that there had been cooperation between countries and health organizations, but warned that community-level testing centers were not enough.

Pakistan says it is introducing new screening measures at airports after at least one case of Mpox infection was confirmed there, days after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the virus.

Health officials are concerned about a new, more deadly variant of the virus formerly known as monkeypox that has spread in several African countries.

The case reported in Pakistan is a patient who recently returned from a Gulf state. The Pakistani Health Ministry said the virus strain had not yet been determined.

Read the full story below:

An infectious disease specialist has warned that a new, more deadly strain of the Mpox virus currently raging around the world is most likely already present in the UK.

Professor Paul Hunter said Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, can spread very quickly between countries because it is a sexually transmitted infection.

And he urged people at risk to get vaccinated against it or reduce the number of their sexual partners.

Read the full story below:

Due to a new MPOX outbreak in several African countries, the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency; at least three cases have now been reported outside the continent.

The infectious disease formerly known as monkeypox is on the rise in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 96 percent of all cases in Africa are found.

More than 17,000 cases have now been confirmed across the continent and the WHO has declared the outbreak to be of “international concern.”

The group’s Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had declared a health emergency.

The outbreak came after a new strain called Clade 1 was identified, which is believed to spread primarily through sexual networks. According to the WHO, it has been identified in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda – all countries where no cases of MPOX have been reported before.

Read the full story below:

The World Health Organization declared Mpox a global health emergency on Wednesday in response to the rising number of cases in both Africa and other continents.

Mpox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox, but causes milder symptoms such as fever, chills and body aches. People with more severe cases may develop characteristic lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.