Health workers walk between wards at the Mpox treatment centre at Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital, north of Goma on August 17, 2024. With around 16,000 cases recorded since the beginning of the year, the DRC is the focus and epicentre of the epidemic that led the World Health Organisation (WHO) to trigger its highest level of alert at the international level on Wednesday. Guerchom Ndebo | Afp | Getty Images Mpox is "not the new Covid" and the risk to the general population is low, according to the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe.
In a statement published Tuesday, Dr. Hans Kluge rejected comparisons between mpox and the coronavirus pandemic. "We can, and must, tackle mpox together — across regions and continents," Kluge said.
"Will we choose to put the systems in place to control and eliminate mpox globally? Or will we enter another cycle of panic and then neglect?" he added. "How we respond now, and in the years to come, will prove a critical test for Europe — and the world." The United Nations health agency recently declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years.
It followed an outbreak of the disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighboring African countries. Formerly known as monkeypox, mpox is a rare viral infection that spreads through close contact and is most commonly found in west or central Africa. It is classified in two distinct viral strains, or clades.
The World Health Or.