The disease formerly known as monkeypox has been declared an international emergency by the WHO. Here are the facts travellers need to know.
The spreading of any disease is unsettling. But when the World Health Organisation announces an international emergency — as it did with mpox — in August, there’s a more urgent sense of concern.
A new, deadlier form of mpox was reported by scientists earlier this year. The WHO says there have been 18,000 suspected cases and 629 deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — the worst affected country — this year. For travellers, that might bring back memories of Covid and two years of fraught rules, restrictions, masks, testing and quarantines. So here’s what you need to know.
“The emergence of a case on the European continent could spur rapid international spread of mpox,” Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert and professor at Georgetown Law in Washington, told Reuters. “A case in Sweden most likely means dozens of undetected cases in Europe.” Dr Meera Chand, deputy director of the UK Health Security Agency, tempers that view: “The risk to the UK population is currently considered low. However, planning is underway to prepare for any cases that we might see in the UK.”China announced in August that, for the next six months, it will screen people entering the country from high-risk areas. And anyone travelling to Thailand from 42 ‘risk countries’ must register and undergo testing on arrival.
However, officials in Africa are lobbying against restrictions. “Don’t punish Africa,” said Jean Kaseya, head of the Africas CDC. “We need solidarity. We need you to provide appropriate support. This vaccine is expensive. I clearly request our partners to stop thinking about travel bans against Africa. That will bring us back to the unfair treatment from the Covid period and not help the world to move forward.”Tour operators are likely to be lenient if you have a trip booked to the DRC.
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