Weekly monkeypox cases jump 20%, says UN health body

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) – Close to 7,500 monkeypox cases were reported last week, a 20% jump over the previous week, the World Health Organization's chief said Wednesday.

"Almost all cases are being reported from Europe and the Americas, and almost all cases continue to be reported among men who have sex with men," Tedros Ghebreyesus said at a webinar hosted in Geneva.

Since Jan. 1, cases of monkeypox have been reported to WHO from 93 countries across all six WHO regions.

As of Aug. 16, 36,412 laboratory-confirmed cases and 179 probable monkeypox cases, including 12 deaths worldwide, have been reported to WHO.

Tedros said that the primary focus for all countries must be to ensure they are ready for monkeypox and to stop transmission using effective public health tools.

"Vaccines may also play an important part in controlling the outbreak, and in many countries, there is high demand for vaccines from the affected communities," said the WHO head.

"However, for the moment, supplies of vaccines, and data about their effectiveness, are limited, although we are starting to receive data from some countries."

Monkeypox spreads from person to person through close contact with someone who has a monkeypox rash, including through face-to-face, skin-to-skin, mouth-to-mouth, or mouth-to-skin contact, including sexual contact.

- Coronavirus

Also, Tedros said 15,000 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the past week, a 35% increase.

These deaths are "completely unacceptable" when the world has all the tools to prevent infections and save lives, he added.

"We're all tired of this virus and tired of the pandemic. But the virus is not tired of us," said the WHO chief.

Omicron remains the dominant variant, with the BA.5 sub-variant representing more than 90% of sequences shared in the last month.

"However, the number of sequences shared per week has fallen by 90% since the beginning of this year, and the number of countries sharing sequences has dropped by 75%," said Tedros.

That drop in data makes it much harder to understand how the virus might be changing.

More than 6 million COVID-19 deaths have been reported to WHO since the disease hit the world in early 2020.

"With colder weather approaching in the northern hemisphere and people spending more time indoors, the risks for more intense transmission and hospitalization will only increase in the coming months – not only for COVID-19 but for other diseases including influenza," warned Tedros.

He urged people to get vaccinated.