Australia’s top health authority on Thursday declared monkeypox a “communicable disease event of national importance”, accounting for 44 cases, mostly travelers from abroad.
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The announcement by the Australian government’s head of medicine, Paul Kelly, frees up and sets in motion the resources needed to be able to cope with a potential wave of infections and deploy prevention mechanisms.
The official stressed that monkeypox is “much less harmful than Covid-19 and no deaths have been recorded during the current outbreak outside countries where the virus is endemic.”
JUST IN: After the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency, #Australia Called the spread a “communicable disease event of national importance” to allow a more coordinated response. #monkeypox pic.twitter.com/OrCXYqNnCA
— BNN Newsroom (@BNNBreaking)
28 July 2022
According to official figures of the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been about 18,000 cases of monkeypox on the planet so far.
70 percent of them are in Europe, followed by Spain (3,595), followed by Germany (2,410), the United Kingdom (2,208) and France (1,567).
Meanwhile, the US accounts for 25 per cent of infections, with the United States (2,881), Brazil (696), Canada (681), Peru (203) and Mexico (59).
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned a few days ago that “if its risks are taken seriously and necessary steps are taken to prevent its transmission”, we could prevent monkeypox.
They also recalled that the disease spreads through sexual contact or simple physical contact, such as hugging, kissing or sharing personal objects, while three promising vaccines are already being worked on.
