The World Health Organisation (WHO) are to reconvene their monkeypox committee to decide on whether the outbreak should now be considered a ‘global health emergency’.
This will will be the second emergency committee meeting since the monkeypox appeared in May 2022
Last month, following 2 days of deliberation an advisory panel declined to label the monkeypox outbreak a global emergency, but said it would reconsider the alert level if the outbreak grew.
The WHO did not say which day or days the committee will be meeting in emergency session.
The Mail Online reports: The UN health agency are now aware of 9,200 cases in 63 countries in the last update issued on Tuesday, with the UK recording 1,735 cases between May 6 and July 11 this year.
UK Health Security Agency figures show that the majority were Londoners, with 1,229 reported in the capital.
This WHO meeting will be the second for the emergency committee, with experts set to decide on if monkeypox cases constitutes a public health emergency which should be of ‘international concern’.
A PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern) is the highest formal declaration alarm the WHO can raise for the spread of a disease like monkeypox.
The last committee meeting found that the situation had not yet met the threshold – but with case numbers rising, the health agency warns of their concerns.
The UN health agency said in a statement: ‘The emergency committee will provide its views to the WHO director general on whether the event constitutes a PHEIC.
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