WHO chief overrules panel to call monkeypox global emergency

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a media conference at an EU Africa summit in Brussels on Feb. 18, 2022. The World Health Organisation says monkeypox still does not warrant being declared a global emergency even though it's spreading in more than 70 countries. The decision announced on Saturday was the second time within weeks that WHO’s emergency committee declined to classify the unprecedented outbreak of the once-rare disease as an emergency. - AP

GENEVA, July 24 (Bloomberg): The monkeypox outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern, the head of the World Health Organisation said, overruling a divided expert panel to issue the group’s highest alert.

The move paves the way for stepped-up global cooperation to stop the virus, which has spread to dozens of countries. The last time the WHO made a similar declaration was during the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in January 2020.