WHO to convene second emergency meeting to decide if monkeypox is a global health threat as cases rise to 9,200

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that it will convene a second emergency meeting next week to decide if monkeypox poses a global health threat as cases rise to 9,200.

The U.N. agency declined last month to declare a global emergency in response to monkeypox. But as infections have risen substantially over the last several weeks, the organization is expected to consider whether to issue its highest alert when the emergency committee reconvenes next week.

“The emergency committee for monkeypox will reconvene next week and look at trends, how effective the countermeasures are, and make recommendations” to countries and communities confronting the outbreak, the WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a virtual press conference.

The WHO did not say which day or days the committee will be meeting in emergency session.

About 9,200 cases of monkeypox have been reported across 63 countries so far this year, up from just over 6,000 as of July 4, the agency said. Three deaths from the virus have been reported this year.