Kathmandu. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared monkeypox as a public health emergency. In the meeting of the International Health Regulation Emergency Committee held on July 7 to review the multinational outbreak, the director general of the organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared monkeypox as a public health emergency due to the rapid increase.

As the infection started to increase, the WHO has called on countries in the South-East Asia region to strengthen monkeypox surveillance and public health measures. “Monkeypox is spreading rapidly and is spreading to many countries where it has not been seen before.

"This is a matter of great concern," said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Director for South-East Asia, WHO in a statement. According to WHO, 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in 75 countries. According to WHO, a total of four cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in South-East Asia, three in India and one in Thailand.

According to a statement issued by the WHO, monkeypox infection has been confirmed in a foreign citizen who returned home from a Middle Eastern country in India and was living there in Thailand.