WHO on Wednesday declared the mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency, sounding its highest possible alarm over the worsening situation.
Worried by the rise in cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the spread to nearby countries, the WHO hastily convened a meeting of experts to study the outbreak.
“Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that in its view, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern [PHEIC]. I have accepted that advice,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.
Photo: Reuters
A PHEIC is the highest level of alarm under the International Health Regulations.
“The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern DRC, its detection in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” Tedros said.
Tedros said many members feared the known situation in Africa was “actually the tip of the iceberg,” because without more robust surveillance, “we don’t have the full picture.”
Formerly called monkeypox, the mpox virus was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what is now the DRC.
Mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals, but can also be passed from human to human through close contact.
It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.
It is the second PHEIC in succession on mpox.
In May 2022, mpox infections surged worldwide, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men, due to the clade 2b subclade.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday raised its travel warning for seven countries.
The DRC travel warning has been raised to “Level 2: Alert,” while the travel warning for six other African countries with an occurrence of mpox outbreak or clade 1b mpox virus, including Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, have been raised to “Level 1: Watch,” the CDC said in a news release.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said that the upsurge of mpox in Africa broke out in the DRC and has spread to neighboring countries with more than 15,600 reported cases and 537 deaths, mainly due to the fast spread of the clade 1b mpox virus via human-to-human transmission.
Clade Ib mpox can be transmitted via regular interpersonal contact or sexual activities, and is therefore more contagious than clade 2b, he said.
The fatality rate of clade 1b is 3.6 percent, 18 times higher than clade 2b, with most people infected being young adults and children, Lo said.
Data from the CDC showed that the mpox epidemic in Taiwan is still rising, with a cumulative total of 399 cases, including 377 domestic and 22 imported cases, since the disease was listed as “category 2 communicable disease” on June 23, 2022.
There have been 40 mpox cases this year, of which 37 have been domestic and three imported, it added.
There have not yet been any clade 1b-infected person in Taiwan, but a forum with non-governmental organizations would be convened today to strengthen hygiene education and promotion, Lo said.
Additional reporting by Lin Hui-chin, Esme Yeh and CNA
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
SECURITY: Grassroots civil servants would only need to disclose their travel, while those who have access to classified information would be subject to stricter regulations The government is considering requiring legislators and elected officials to obtain prior approval before traveling to China to prevent Chinese infiltration, an official familiar with national security said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) in March announced 17 measures to counter China’s growing infiltration efforts, including requiring all civil servants to make trips to China more transparent so they can be held publicly accountable. The official said that the government is considering amending the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to require all civil servants to follow strict regulations before traveling to China.
‘MISGUIDED EDICT’: Two US representatives warned that Somalia’s passport move could result in severe retaliatory consequences and urged it to reverse its decision Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has ordered that a special project be launched to counter China’s “legal warfare” distorting UN Resolution 2758, a foreign affairs official said yesterday. Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday cited UN Resolution 2758 and Mogadishu’s compliance with the “one China” principle as it banned people from entering or transiting in the African nation using Taiwanese passports or other Taiwanese travel documents. The International Air Transport Association’s system shows that Taiwanese passport holders cannot enter Somalia or transit there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the move and warned Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland
RSS