8 June 2022 – Cases of monkeypox in non-endemic countries around the world continue to rise, with 780 confirmed cases reported from 27 countries as of 2 June. No deaths have been reported during the current outbreak. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, a total of 14 laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported from 2 countries: 13 cases in the United Arab Emirates and one case in Morocco.
WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean is working with health authorities in these 2 countries to manage the current outbreak and prevent further transmission through intensified surveillance and contact tracing, as well as ensuring that health care workers are protected as they treat infectious patients. All patients are now isolated until they recover, usually within a few weeks with supportive treatment.
We are also working with these countries to increase awareness among potentially affected communities, as well as with health care providers and laboratory workers, which is essential for identifying and preventing further secondary cases and effectively managing the current outbreak.
Right now, these outbreaks can be stopped. But it is critically important for countries to support health services and to stop onward transmission from the cases.
In countries where no confirmed cases have been reported, WHO is working with health authorities to increase preparedness measures, including raising public awareness about the disease and its symptoms, ensuring health care workers are able to quickly detect and isolate suspected cases, and building up laboratory capacities for fast diagnosis of suspected cases.
While travel restrictions are not recommended by WHO, we urge anyone who feels ill during or after travel to countries in west and central Africa, where the disease is endemic, to report to a health professional.
It is possible for any person who has come into close physical contact with a person infected with monkeypox to become infected. The virus spreads mainly through close physical contact if a person is exposed to infectious ulcers, lesions, or sores on the skin or in the mouth or throat.
Monkeypox is a disease that is new to our Region, and we are coordinating closely with WHO headquarters and other WHO regions to learn more about why it is now appearing in countries that are non-endemic for monkeypox. The situation is evolving rapidly, and epidemiological investigations are still ongoing. For now, WHO has assessed the overall public health risk as moderate at both the global and regional levels. We continue to closely monitor the situation, and will keep you regularly updated as new information comes in.
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