Health

World Health Organization Declares Monkeypox a Global Health Emergency; Dept. of Health Has 100 Doses of Vaccine Ready if Virus Appears in USVI

With over 16,000 confirmed cases of Monkeypox globally, the World Health Organization on Saturday declared the virus a global public-health emergency of international concern. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director-general, said the emergency committee believes the Monkeypox risk is moderate, except in Europe, where the WHO has concluded, based on data, that the risk is high. Today's declaration is the first time the WHO has declared a global public health emergency since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The disease, which in the past was rarely seen outside Africa, has in recent weeks spread to dozens of countries — reaching over 16,000 cases around the world, affecting mainly men who have sex with men. Five people have died in Africa from Monkeypox-related complications this year, however no deaths have been reported outside the continent. “We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we underst...