Belén Liotti
(CNN) –– The monkeypox outbreak is not the next Covid-19, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, calling for a coordinated response to the ongoing outbreak after the agency declared a global health emergency last week.
“Mpox is not the new Covid-19,” WHO European director Hans Kluge said in a video news conference from Geneva.
Kluge said that while more research is needed on the clade 1b strain, the deadliest strain, the spread can be controlled.
What is monkeypox and why is the current outbreak worrying?
“We know how to control mpox. And, in the European region, we have the measures necessary to completely eliminate its transmission,” said Kluge, referring to the need for a coordinated response.
“The need for a coordinated response is now greater in the African region,” he said. “We can and must tackle mpox together, across all regions and continents.”
The WHO declared a global health emergency last week amid concerns that the deadliest strain, clade Ib, had reached nearby countries, including four previously unaffected African countries. This strain had previously been contained in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cases of the strain have since been found in Sweden, the first case outside Africa, which was contracted during a visit to one of the African nations.
