Lara Adejoro, Abuja The Director General of the World Health Organsation, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said an Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations will be convened to discuss whether the current Mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo represents a public health emergency of international concern. Ghebreyesus said this at a media briefing on Wednesday, which was monitored virtually. He said the committee would meet as soon as possible and would be made up of independent experts from a range of relevant disciplines from around the world.
Since the beginning of this year, the DRC has been experiencing a severe outbreak of Mpox, with more than 14,000 reported cases and 511 deaths. Outbreaks of Mpox have been reported in DRC for decades, and the number of cases reported each year has been increasing steadily. However, the number of cases reported in the first six months of this year matches the number reported in last year, and the virus has spread to previously unaffected provinces.
“In the past month, about 50 confirmed and more suspected cases have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not been reported before – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. “Mpox outbreaks are caused by different viruses called clades. Clade 1 has been circulating in the DRC for years, while clade 2 was responsible for the global outbreak which began in 2022.
“The current outbreak in the Eastern DRC is caused by a new offshoot of clade 1, cal.