Monkeypox virus latest news: WHO ‘calls emergency meeting’ as UK cases double

Public health officials have sent out an “urgent” call to consultant virologists for volunteers to help the “rapidly scaling up” monkeypox response, The Independent has learnt. Rebecca Thomas reports:

Portugal has reported nine new confirmed monkeypox cases, bringing the total to 23.

Julia Baines, a science policy manager for animal rights charity PETA, has said we risk triggering another global pandemic “if we continue to use and abuse animals”.

In this piece for Indy Voices, she writes: “When will we learn? Now that monkeypox has been detected in Canada, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the US, we should accept that our toxic relationship with animals is sleepwalking us into disaster.”

Eleven more cases of monkeypox have been found in the UK, health chiefs say, bringing the total to 20.

The World Health Organisation has reportedly called an emergency meeting after the tally more than doubled.

Jane Dalton has the full story:

Several outbreaks of monkey pox in Africa have been contained during the Covid-19 pandemic while the world’s attention was elsewhere – but outbreaks in Europe and the United States are a concern, Africa’s top public health agency has said.

The disease, which spreads through close contact and was first found in monkeys, mostly occurs in west and central Africa and only rarely spreads elsewhere.

The acting director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said that since 2020 outbreaks had been seen and contained in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon and Central African Republic.

“During this pandemic, we have had several outbreaks of monkey pox on the continent … We also expect that other outbreaks will come and we’ll handle it in the usual way,” Ahmed Ogwell Ouma told a weekly news briefing.

“We are however concerned at the multiple countries outside, especially in Europe, that are seeing these outbreaks of monkey pox. It would be very useful for knowledge to be shared regarding what the source of these outbreaks actually are,” he said.

“We are in close contact with our counterparts at the European CDC to try and understand where that did come from because when you see monkey pox in environments that are far away from a forested area then for sure as far as public health is concerned it raises a lot of questions.”

Monkeypox infections have spread to at least seven European countries as Sweden, France, Belgium and Italy have become the latest to announce their first cases of the viral infection.

The new cases mean increasing global transmission of the disease, with infections having emerged in the US and even Australia.

My colleague Shweta Sharma has more details:

The health authority in Portugal, the country with the most monkeypox cases, admitted it was worried about the spread of the disease but urged people to stay calm as the transmission risk is low.

At the last tally, Portugal had reported 14 cases of monkeypox, while there were about 20 suspected infections.

The outbreaks in Britain, Portugal, Spain, the United States and other countries raised alarm because the disease, which spreads through close contact and was first found in monkeys, mostly occurs in West and Central Africa, and only very occasionally elsewhere.

Margarida Tavares, the spokesperson for Portugal’s monkeypox working group, said: “The health authority… is worried… It is important to act in the right way and make the right decisions to break transmission chains.

“(But) the risk for the population is low. It is not a disease that is easily transmitted.”

Tavares said cases in Portugal were all detected in sexual health clinics and those infected were men aged between 20 and 40 years old who self-identified as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men.

They all have mild symptoms and their health status is improving. No one has been hospitalised.

Health secretary Sajid Javid said the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed 11 more cases of monkeypox in the UK, with most being described as mild.

The new cases come on top of the nine previously identified, with the initial case having returned from travel to Nigeria.

It takes the UK total to 20.

Mr Javid said: “UKHSA have confirmed 11 new cases of Monkeypox in the UK. This morning I updated G7 health ministers on what we know so far.

“Most cases are mild, and I can confirm we have procured further doses of vaccines that are effective against monkeypox.”

Italy has confirmed two more cases of monkeypox infection at the Spallanzani hospital in Rome, bringing the total cases to three so far in the country.

The Lazio region health commissioner said in a statement today that two other suspected infections related to the first detected case had been confirmed.

The Spallanzani hospital said on Thursday that the first patient with monkeypox, a mild viral infection whose symptoms include fever, headaches as well as the distinctive bumpy rash, had come back to Italy from a stay on the Canary islands.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reportedly called an emergency meeting as the UK’s monkeypox cases are expected to double.

Two cases of the virus were reported in the UK, taking the total number to nine. However 11 more cases are due to be announced today, according to The Times, bringing the tally to 20.

WHO will convene a group of leading experts at a meeting to discuss the ongoing outbreak today, The Telegraph reports.

The newspaper said it was believed the main topics of discussion would be how the virus is being spread, the unusually high prevalence in gay and bisexual men, and the vaccination situation.