WHO declares Monkeypox outbreak is no longer a global emergency

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the global outbreak of Monkeypox is no longer an international emergency, following a dramatic drop in cases in recent months.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had announced last July that the virus - also known as mpox - had sparked an "extraordinary" situation that qualified as a global crisis.

At the time, his decision overruled the WHO's expert committee, which did not recommend the emergency designation.

Mr Tedros said the novel way Monkeypox was infecting people - via sexual contact in many countries that had never before identified cases - raised numerous concerns which warranted more attention.

Nearly all of the registered cases were in men who were gay, bisexual or had sex with other men.

On Thursday, Mr Tedros said his expert committee had concluded that the recent dramatic decline in cases - around 90% fewer cases in the last three months - was no longer an acute concern.

"We now see steady progress in controlling the outbreak based on the lessons of HIV and working closely with the most affected communities," he said.

He added that the feared backlash against the communities most affected by the outbreak "has largely not materialised".

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...

Thursday's announcement comes after the WHO downgraded its risk alert for Covid-19 last week, when it said the worst part of the pandemic was over and that the virus should be managed like other respiratory diseases.

Monkeypox has been established in parts of central and west Africa for decades, where people are mainly infected by animals like wild rodents.

But the disease was not known to spark big outbreaks beyond the continent or to spread easily among people until last May, when dozens of epidemics emerged in Europe and North America amongst others.

Symptoms of Monkeypox can include, but are not limited to: a rash, fever, headache, muscle pain and swollen lymph nodes.

To date, the WHO said there have been more than 87,000 cases of the virus and 140 deaths worldwide.

While wealthy countries, including the UK, United States and Germany rushed to vaccinate their at-risk populations after the Monkeypox outbreak emerged, Africa did not receive its first big shipment of vaccines until last December.

WHO emergencies chief Dr Michael Ryan criticised the global community for its failure to support the effort to contain the epidemic last year.

"Not one dollar was received from donors to support this response," he said.

Dr Ryan added that the WHO had financed such efforts itself, acknowledging that some donors may have directly supported affected countries.

The Partygate: The Inside Story podcast brings you fresh revelations and our whistleblowers in their own words in the definitive behind-closed-doors story of how ITV News uncovered one of the biggest scandals of our era