Nigeria has detected 21 cases of monkeypox since the start of the year, the country's Centre for Disease Control announced, including six in May.
The cases were reported in nine states and the capital Abuja. One 40-year-old man has died of the disease in Nigeria, and nine people have died in Congo. Monkeypox, which is usually a mild viral infection endemic in Africa, has caused widespread alarm after hundreds of cases were reported in at least 23 countries since early May, mostly in Europe.
The World Health Organization said Monday that it is too soon to tell
whether a recent monkeypox outbreak could
lead to a global pandemic, but noted that there is currently a window of
opportunity to curb rising cases.
The public health body said there are “still many unknowns”
related to the spike in cases in non-endemic countries outside of Africa. The
WHO said the virus should not be mistaken for Covid-19 and that the risks to
the general public remain low.
“We don’t want people to panic or be afraid and think that
it’s like Covid or maybe worse,” Sylvie Briand, the WHO’s director of epidemic
and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said during a briefing on the
outbreak. “This monkeypox disease is not Covid-19, it is a different virus."