GLOBAL- The Monkeypox outbreak has resulted in more than 50,000 cases of monkeypox worldwide according to recent statistics from the World health organization (WHO).

Encouraging reports from the world health body, however, show that in the virus’s hotspots of Europe and the United States, transmission is slowing.

50,496 cases and 16 fatalities were recorded by the World Health Organization this year, and the outbreak was deemed 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,” he told a press conference.

He noted that 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 consistently since the beginning: that with the right measures, this is an outbreak that can be stopped.” Said Tedros.

In the meantime, the head of WHO Europe stated that there were “encouraging” signals that the outbreak was slowing down and moving “in the correct direction” on the continent.

Since early May, there has been an increase in monkeypox infections outside of the African nations where it has long been common.

101 territories have reported instances, although only 52 have reported new cases in the last seven days; of these, 27 have reported numbers in the single digits.

The United States (17,994), Spain (6,543), Brazil (4,693), France (3,547), Germany (3,467), Britain (3,413), Peru (1,463), Canada (1,228), and the Netherlands are the nations that have reported more than a thousand cases to the WHO overall (1,160).

Health officials’ data suggests that there has recently been a minor slowdown in the number of new infections in the US.

In the meantime, the head of WHO Europe stated that there were “encouraging” signals that the outbreak was slowing down and moving “in the correct direction” on the continent.

The WHO has received reports of four deaths in Nigeria, three in Ghana, two each from Spain and the Central African Republic, and one each from Brazil, Belgium, Ecuador, India, and Cuba.

There are currently two licensed vaccines in the United States to prevent smallpox – JYNNEOS and ACAM2000.

 These smallpox vaccines may provide protection against monkeypox because smallpox and monkeypox are very similar viruses.

Only JYNNEOS is FDA approved for the prevention of monkeypox in people 18 and older.

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