Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (July 7): The World Health Organization (WHO) said updates on the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox had transitioned from disease outbreak news to a biweekly situation report.

In its external situation report published on Wednesday (July 6), the agency said the report will provide details such as the latest epidemiology, new guidance documents and updates on WHO advice.

According to the WHO, the outbreak continues to primarily affect men who have sex with men who have reported recent sex with one or multiple male partners, suggesting no signal of sustained transmission beyond these networks for now.

The global health watchdog said that from Jan 1 to July 4, 2022, 6,027 laboratory confirmed cases of monkeypox and three deaths were reported to the WHO from 59 countries/territories/areas in five WHO regions (the African region, region of the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean region, European region and Western Pacific region).

It said since the previous disease outbreak news was published on June 27, 2022, 2,614 new cases (a 77% increase) and two new deaths had been reported. Nine new countries/territories/areas have reported cases.

The WHO said 10 countries had not reported new cases for over 21 days, the maximum duration of the incubation period of the disease.

According to the organization, this is the first time that local transmission of monkeypox has been reported in newly-affected countries without epidemiological links to countries that have previously reported monkeypox in West or Central Africa.

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