More than 50,000 monkeypox cases have been recorded in the global outbreak, WHO figures showed Wednesday, but transmission is slowing in the virus hotspots of Europe and the United States.
The World Health Organization’s dashboard listed 50,496 cases and 16 deaths as reported this year to the UN agency, which declared the outbreak a global public health emergency in July. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the declines in new infections proved the outbreak could be brought to a halt. ‘In the Americas, which accounts for more than half of reported cases, several countries continue to see increasing numbers of infections, although it is encouraging to see a sustained downward trend in Canada. Some European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, are also seeing a clear slowing of the outbreak, demonstrating the effectiveness of public health interventions and community engagement to track infections and prevent transmission. ‘These signs confirm what we have said since the beginning: that with the right measures, this is an outbreak that can be stopped.’
