Mpox Outbreak: Singapore, India Among Countries On Alert; 1,300 Deaths Since Jan 2023

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said the emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in the eastern Congo, and many cases in several neighbouring countries are “very worrying”.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been more than 27,000 cases and more than 1,300 deaths since January 2023 in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Mpox Outbreak Latest Updates

-WHO Declares Public Health Emergency: The WHO on August 14 declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years. While infections surged in Congo, Sweden last week became the first country to report a case of the disease outside the African continent. Later, Pakistan and Thailand also reported cases.

-Singapore On Alert: Temperature and visual screening started at Changi and Seletar airports of Singapore from Friday onwards as a precautionary measure against mpox, after one confirmed case of a potentially more serious variant each was reported in Sweden and Thailand. The mpox outbreak in Africa and other places is expected to spread to the Middle East and Europe, which Singapore has flight connections to, The Straits Times quoted Singapore Health Minister Ong Ye Kung as saying.

-What Is Mpox: Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the orthopoxvirus genus. This genus - or family of viruses - also includes the variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox.

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-Mpox Clades: The first documented case of mpox in humans was reported in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since then, mpox has been classified into two primary clades: clade 1, previously known as the Central African strain, which is more virulent; and clade 2, previously known as the West African strain, which is generally less severe, as per information mentioned in an Associated Press (AP) report.

-Mpox In Africa: Historically cases of mpox were rare outside of Africa, however, a significant surge in cases began globally in May 2022 and has been followed by another increase this year, as the number of cases in Australia shows.

-How Mpox Spreads: The monkeypox virus gets transmitted through several primary routes, with human-to-human transmission being the most significant. This transmission typically involves direct contact with the lesions or bodily fluids of an infected individual, particularly during intimate interactions.

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-Mpox Alert In India: In India as well, authorities across states are on alert to stop the infection from entering the country. While civic body in India's financial capital Mumbai has reserved a bed ward at a hospital, country's capital city Delhi is also maintaining strict vigil on the mpox situation and closely monitoring developments. Earlier this week, the Delhi government directed the LNJP Hospital, GTB Hospital and the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital to set up isolation rooms for the management of suspected and confirmed mpox cases.