It spreads through physical contact, wherein an uninfected individual may contract the virus by coming into contact with the secretions from an infected person's eye and subsequently touching their own eyes
After the monkeypox emergency committee met for the second time, on July 21, 2022, it released a report stating that the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox meets all the three criteria defining a PHEIC.
The UN health agency has warned that the disease could be more severe in vulnerable populations like children or pregnant women.
About 10 per cent of patients were hospitalised for treatment or to be isolated, and one person was admitted to an intensive care unit. No deaths have been reported.
To date, monkeypox deaths have only been reported in Africa, where a more dangerous version of the virus is spreading, mainly in Nigeria and Congo.
