The United States on Thursday, 4 August, declared monkeypox a public health emergency in order to free up more funds and increase data gathering.
The move would also allow the deployment of additional personnel in the fight against the virus.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said, "We're prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously and to take responsibility to help us tackle this virus."
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said in a tweet, "I remain committed to our monkeypox response: ramping-up vaccine distribution, expanding testing, and educating at-risk communities. That's why today's public health emergency declaration on the virus is critical to confronting this outbreak with the urgency it warrants."
The public health emergency was announced in light of the US crossing 6,600 nationwide cases on Thursday, with around a quarter of them from New York state.
While the declaration is initially only effective for 90 days, it can be renewed further.
However, experts believe that the real number of monkeypox cases could be much higher in the current outbreak since the symptoms can be as mild as single lesions, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, some 6,00,000 JYNNEOS vaccines – initially developed against monkeypox-related virus smallpox – have been delivered.
But the vaccination falls short, taking into consideration the nearly 1.6 million people considered to be at the highest risk.
(With inputs from AFP.)
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