The cumulative number of confirmed cases in about 70 non-Monkeypox-endemic countries worldwide exceeds 20,000. The United States, Australia, Brazil and the Philippines are all worrying developments.
After the worldwide record of monkeypox cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) held a video press conference on July 23, and Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared monkeypox to constitute a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)", which is listed as the highest level of vigilance in the WHO.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on the 27th that nearly 5,300 cases have been recorded in 18 countries or regions in the Americas, mainly concentrated in the United States, Canada and Brazil.
There are more than 4,600 confirmed cases in the United States, including 261 in San Francisco. San Francisco earlier asked the federal government to distribute 35,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine, but received only 7,800 doses. Authorities are shutting down clinics that provide vaccination services this week because of insufficient vaccines.
The mayor of San Francisco declared a state of emergency beginning Aug. 1, hoping the federal government would provide more assistance to the city. In New York City, which accounts for one-third of confirmed cases, vaccines are also in short supply.
Jezo, associate dean of professional services at Westchester County Medical Center, N.Y., said: "We're seeing an increase in requests for vaccinations, so our call center is assisting appointmentees and we're also seeing surges in demand that will continue into next week. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. has increased monkeypox virus testing capacity from its initial 6,000 per week to a maximum of 80,000.
The Philippines said on the 29th that the first monkeypox case was recorded. The health department said that the 31-year-old male patient had traveled to several countries with monkeypox cases, returned to Manila on July 19, and tested positive on the 28th and was admitted to the hospital. He has since been discharged from the hospital and is currently subject to strict home isolation and health monitoring as required. Ten close contacts, including three of his family members, are asymptomatic and all are subject to quarantine.
According to the country's Ministry of Health, there are 813 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Brazil. On the 26th, Rosamund Lewis, head of the secretariat of the Smallpox Group of the World Health Organization's (WHO) emergency plan, said that the situation in the country is "very worrying" and that the cases may be underestimated due to insufficient testing methods.
Australia, which currently has 44 cases, has declared a Monkeypox outbreak as a Communicable Disease Incident of National Significance, and according to a statement from Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly, there have been 44 cases so far, most of which have returned from abroad.
Kelly said that although monkeypox has been declared a major infectious disease incident in the country, its harm is much lower than that of the new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19), no country has reported any deaths from monkeypox, and the transmission rate is much lower.