Why Mpox not new COVID-19, says WHO

Agency The World Health Organisation on Tuesday said the mpox outbreak is not another COVID-19, stressing that the infection is not new and has existing measures already in place to control it. While more research is needed on the Clade one billion strain which triggered the UN agency into declaring a public health emergency of international concern, the spread of mpox can be reined in, the WHO’s European director Hans Kluge said. In July 2022, the WHO declared a PHEIC over the international outbreak of the less severe Clade 2b strain of mpox, which mostly affected gay and bisexual men.

The alarm was lifted in May 2023. “Mpox is not the new Covid. We know how to control mpox.

And, in the European region, the steps needed to eliminate its transmission altogether,” he told a media briefing in Geneva, via video link. “Two years ago, we controlled mpox in Europe thanks to the direct engagement with the most affected communities. We put in place robust surveillance; we thoroughly investigated new cases and contacts and we provided sound public health advice.

“Behaviour change, non-discriminatory public health action, and mpox vaccination contributed to controlling the outbreak,” Kluge insisted Kluge said the risk to the general population was low. “Are we going to go in lockdown in the WHO European region, it’s another COVID-19? The answer is clearly: ‘no’,” he said. Kluge said the predominant route of transmission remained close to skin-to-skin contact.

But .