THE World Health Organization (WHO) is mulling over its strategy for the current outbreak of monkeypox across 63 countries to determine whether to modify management guidelines, or declare an international public health emergency.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus advised that there were 9,200 people now infected with the zoonotic virus.

He said the international health regulations emergency committee 0n monkeypox is to meet next week to look at trends, the effectiveness of the counter-measures and make recommendations for what countries and communities should do to tackle the outbreak.

Dr Sylvie Briand, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention for the WHO, noted that with new geographies now being affected, among the nine criteria being examined are the increasing number of cases, deaths, changes in the virus, and geographical spread.

“We will rediscuss this criteria to see if we need to modify the strategy or declare a public health emergency of international concern at this stage,” she told journalists.

Last week, health officials confirmed Jamaica’s first case of monkeypox in a male who recently travelled to the island from the United Kingdom, and showed up at a public health facility on July 5. Making the announcement, Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton again reiterated that there was no need to panic, urging Jamaicans to continue to observe existing COVID-19 protocols, which he said should be enough to prevent widescale spread of monkeypox — an infectious disease that originated in wild animals and transitioned to humans.

One in 10 cases of the virus can be fatal depending on the strain, but the vast majority of persons who contract it usually recover without treatment. The first case of monkeypox was discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa, in 1970.Meanwhile, the WHO head said in a multi-pronged approach, the organisation continues to work closely with civil society to tackle the stigma around the virus and spread information, and with country experts to advance research and development. At the same time, he said the WHO is working with vaccine manufacturers to coordinate the sharing of Monkeypox vaccines which are currently scarce.

Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO programme for emergencies, stressed that there is no evidence currently of a link between food contamination and monkeypox. “There is absolutely no evidence right now that normal consumption of normal food, normal food chains, going into supermarkets buying your food is in any way associated with any risk of getting monkeypox.”

At the same time, he said increasingly data is suggesting that the virus could be cultured off surfaces. “So clearly the hygiene and infection control in a clinical setting is very important, and also in household settings where there is a case,” he said.

Dr Ryan pointed out that the spread of the virus is driven mainly by prolonged sexual contact between persons. “All routes of transmission continues to be investigated…we also need to be prudent and ensure that people don’t associate studies on the possible routes with the actual transmission route. So your food is safe, the proper cooking the proper handling of food is very important and within that context monkeypox doesn’t represent a risk,” he stated.