The palms of a monkeypox case patient from Lodja, a city in the Katako-Kombe Health Zone, are seen during a health investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997.Picture: BRIAN WJ MAHY/CDC/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
While monkeypox is not as transmissible or dangerous as Covid-19, these scientists say, there needs to be clearer guidance on how a person infected with monkeypox should isolate, more explicit advice on how to protect people who are at risk, and improved testing and contact tracing. “It is always under consideration, but no emergency committee as yet [on monkeypox],” Mike Ryan, director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said on the sidelines of the agency’s annual meeting in Geneva.
Most have been in Europe rather than in the Central and West African countries where the virus is endemic. No deaths have been reported in the current outbreak. On Friday, the WHO reiterated that the monkeypox virus is containable with measures including the quick detection and isolation of cases and contact tracing.