More than 35,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO), with 12 deaths recorded worldwide.
A total of 7,500 cases were reported last week, a 20 per cent increase from the previous week.
Speaking during his press briefing from Geneva last night, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said almost all cases were from Europe and the Americas, and almost all involved men who had sex with other men.
The trend, he said, underscored the importance for all countries to design and deliver services and information tailored to these communities that protect health, human rights, and dignity.
Singapore has recorded 15 monkeypox cases to date, with all infected, being men. Thailand’s fifth monkeypox case was a Thai woman who returned from Dubai on Aug 14.
To date, no confirmed cases have been reported in Malaysia.
Ghebreyesus said the primary focus for all countries must be to ensure that they are ready for monkeypox and to stop transmission using effective public health tools, including enhanced disease surveillance, careful contact tracing, tailored risk communication and community engagement, and risk reduction measures.
“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.”
He noted that the supply of vaccines, and data about their effectiveness, were limited, although WHO is starting to receive data from some countries.
“WHO has been in close contact with the manufacturers of vaccines, and with countries and organisations that are willing to share doses.
“We remain concerned that the inequitable access to vaccines we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic will be repeated, and that the poorest will continue to be left behind,” he said.
Ghebreyesus added that a meeting of experts convened by WHO had agreed to rename the two known clades of monkeypox virus using Roman numerals.
The clade formerly known as the Congo Basin or Central African clade, will now be referred to as Clade I, while the West African clade will be called Clade II.
He added work on renaming the disease and the virus is ongoing.
