More than 800 people have died from mpox across Africa, according to the African Union’s disease control center, which warned that the epidemic “is not under control.”
Since January, there have been 34,297 reported cases on the continent, including 38 in Ghana. This brings the total number of African countries where mpox has been officially recorded this year to 16, as noted by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
“The epidemic is not under control,” stated Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC, during a press briefing. He reported that there have been 866 deaths since the beginning of the year and emphasized that the testing rate remains “too low,” with approximately 2,500 new cases identified in the past week.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicenter of the outbreak, is set to begin vaccinations in two days, with the process originally scheduled to start on October 2.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus that can be transmitted to humans from infected animals, as well as through close physical contact between people. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, and large boil-like skin lesions, and the disease can be fatal.
