Monkeypox spread rapidly in non-endemic areas such as Europe and the Americas, and the number of confirmed cases exceeded 1,000 within a month.
According to Reuters, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing on the 8th local time that more than 1,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 29 countries in non-endemic regions. Concerns were raised that the virus could also establish itself in non-endemic areas.
He also recommended self-quarantine for infected people, saying there are signs that local transmission is ongoing in some countries.
In non-endemic areas, there have been no reported deaths from monkeypox infection.
Monkeypox, similar in symptoms to smallpox, is a virus endemic to Central and West Africa.
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However, after a case of infection was reported in the UK on the 7th of last month, confirmed cases have occurred one after another in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Australia, raising concerns about the possibility of causing a global health crisis.
In this regard, Secretary-General Tedros from Ethiopia, Africa, said, "It is only after the virus broke out in a high-income country that the international community began to pay attention. .
In Africa alone, 1,400 suspected cases of monkeypox infection have been reported this year, and it is reported that 66 people have died.
WHO maintains its position that it cannot be certain whether monkeypox is being transmitted through the air like COVID-19.
Rosamund Lewis, director of the WHO Emergency Response Program, who also participated in the briefing, reiterated that close contact with others is the main transmission route, adding that it has not yet been fully confirmed whether infection is caused by fine droplets in the form of aerosols floating in the air.
However, it is recommended that health and medical workers who treat monkeypox infected patients wear masks.